Eden's Children
by Yma
Summary: Sequel to the How Far is Eden? Vash is being deconstructed from within by nano-bots. Meryl, Millie and the (reformed) Knives fight against time to save him, whilst their mysterious nemesis, a shadow from the past, watches.
1. Prologue

Eden's Children.

**Notes:**

Disclaimer: Trigun it's characters and all that stuff doesn't belong to me, I'm just mucking about with it. OK? Don't sue. This disclaimer applies to this chapter and all the chapters following it. Thanks.

1: So this fic is a sequel to How Far is Eden? which is about the redemption of Knives. It's not entirely necessary to read that story to understand this one, but it would help. If you can't be bothered reading it, don't worry because this probably works OK on its own. On a similar note, this is a SEQUEL to How Far is Eden? Not a continuation, Knives path to redemption will be features in this fic, but that is not all of it. There'll also be action, adventure, mystery, some romance. Relationships between the characters, the pasts of the twins and so forth will also take a large role in this story. Basically, it's more a conventional Trigun fic, but hopefully an exciting and thought provoking one too!

2: This fiction also contains some Manga references. It's still more or less Anime based, and you don't need to have read the Manga at all to appreciate it, but the references are there.

3: On the whole this fiction is about the same level as the anime. I've given it a PG13 rating to be safe, but there is nothing worse here, either in language or violence, than can be found in the series Trigun. The sexual innuendo and content might be a tiny bit higher, but there will be no out-right sex scenes or anything of that nature. If you disagree with the rating please inform **me** and I shall move it to the R section directly. Thank you.

4: One thing that makes this fanfic different from a lot of other stuff out there at the moment, (especially multi-chaptered works,) is that it is… in fact… COMPLETE! Yep, This fic is FINISHED, done, all I'm doing now is posting it, replying to readers comments and, perhaps, making some minor editorial changes. With this in mind, I would still ask that you give me encouragement and replies. Your reviews are what make me feel appreciated as a writer, they help me grow as a writer and also encourage me to write more. I WOULD like at least one reply per chapter, just to know that someone IS reading this.

**Eden****'s Children**

**Prologue**

One hundred and twenty nine years ago:

At first he'd thought it had just been a terrible dream. It couldn't be anything else, it didn't make sense for it all to be real. Knives couldn't be mad, the ship couldn't have crashed, they couldn't be wandering a hellish, desert planet, Rem couldn't be…

No; soon he'd awake. Yeah, Rem would wake him up and laugh about him being such a lazy bones. And this would have all been a dreadful, dreadful nightmare. Because it couldn't be real, you see? It was far too dreadful to be real, far too horrible.

But it was real and as time marched on he came to realize it.

When he did he cried, of course. He fancied that, if he cried for long enough, he could create a sea for this sandy planet. That would be nice… Rem had said she liked the sea…

But Knives became impatient with his tears, shouted at him, argued with him, screamed at him to stop, said terrible, terrible things about Rem. Sometimes he even hit him.

So he tried to stop crying, tried to hide his grief a little yet even this was hard. He wished he could talk to Rem again, wished he could ask her what he should do.

As time went on and as the emptiness in his heart grew, he became more and more aware of another emotion brewing in his heart.

Rage.

He began to loath Knives. Despise him.

One night, when it felt like his very blood was boiling from the heat of his anger, when the world seemed tinged red with his fury, he got up, out of his bed roll and grabbed a large rock. He stood above his slumbering brother, the rock raised high above his head, his arms aching a little with the effort of lifting it. He paused, the light of the five moons painted Knives sleeping face in an almost angelic light, he seemed oblivious to the oncoming peril.

The rock was heavy in his hands, all he had to do was throw it down, to drop it, to let go and…

What would Rem do…?

He threw the rock away and ran, ran to the top of a jutting outcrop of stone and there he wept more than he'd ever wept in his life.

At some point in the deluge of tears, between sobs, he struggled to his feet and stood at the very edge of the outcropping. He wanted to be with Rem, wanted to be with her so much…

His toes stuck out onto thin air, it wouldn't take much just to lean forward and…

But taking a life was wrong. Even if it was his own life. Rem had said that.

Rem had also said that people can live on in memory.

So… so… so if he took is own life then Rem wouldn't live on in his memory. And maybe… maybe Rem was still there, looking over him. Maybe she had been what had stopped him from killing Knives earlier. Maybe she had been what had stopped him from killing himself.

Rem was still there! With him! He hadn't seen her body after all so maybe… maybe…

He couldn't do it. He couldn't leave her. He'd promised he'd never leave her. No; no he'd stay, and he'd follow her and remember her. So that maybe she would come back to him. He'd never forget her, never let go, never stray from the path she'd set for him. Because he loved her and because he wanted to see her again. He wanted her to always be with him.

It wasn't a completely happy concept, but it leant a fire to his heart which made him feel… better. He still cried of course, cried all night until the weight of his grief tugged and lulled him into sleep.

The next day he awoke to Knives' callings, someone, (Rem?) had wrapped a blanket about him. He shrugged it off and climbed back down towards the camp and his waiting twin.

After packing his meagre possessions he set off once more, following Knives across the trackless waste. The sky was an especially beautiful blue today, he wished he could show Rem but, then again, maybe he already had.

Vash smiled, he felt a little bit better now. He knew that Rem was still with him and he was still with Rem. And, no matter what, it would stay that way forever.

To Be Continued...


	2. Fools Paradise

Chapter1:

Fools Paradise

Picture, if you will, a small town not all that far from the city of December.

Move your eye inwards, see a little house on the outskirts of the town, simple but not hovel-like, there is nothing to set it apart from its neighbours.

Now come a little closer and look through one of the windows, into the house. There you will see a man, a man with a slightly odd appearance. He is tall, slender, but well muscled, his cream coloured shirt and blue jeans showing an excellent physique. He moves round the room with a careless grace, searching for some food product perhaps. Hair the colour of straw sticks straight out and up from his head, making him look like some sort of demented broom. His eyes sparkle blue-green and seem to have an astonishing expressional quality, every emotion, real or false, shines out from them like a beacon.

If you are observing this through the window of an unremarkable house in a small town not all that far from December, then you are not alone.

The woman, her lithe body flattened against the wall, smiled wickedly as she moved her head away from the window. Each square inch of her was covered in a mixture of black leather and blades. Two colt rifles were strapped to her hips; a machine gun was slung across her shoulders. Ebony hair hung to her waist, framing two equally dark eyes, her soft red lips curled up into a smirk.

'At last, Vash the Stampede,' she hissed, 'I've found you! You may be the first Humanoid Act of God, but soon you shall be but blood in the sand! For you have not met me, Ilyana the Destroyer! Queen of Bounty Hunters! Soon your body and your rich bounty shall be mine! And there nothing that-'

She didn't get much further because at that very moment the outward opening storm flap, of the very window she'd been looking through previously, opened and slammed right in her face.

She fell down onto the sand hard, clutching at her bloody nose. She looked up in astonishment and met an oddly friendly pair of turquoise eyes.

'You know,' said Vash the Stampede, 'you'd really do better if you didn't stay about to threaten so much, I didn't hear you until you started that little speech.'

Ilyana the Destroyer looked up in mute shock, 'why are you doing this anyway?' continued Vash, as if this was an every day conversation, 'I mean it's not as if there aren't easier bounties out there. You _know _I'm the first Human Act of God, a walking disaster, why the hell are you after me? What use is any money if you're too dead to spend it? If I were you I'd retire, I'm sure you'd make someone a fine wife! Um… not me though… I don't go for…' he gestured vaguely at the straps of black leather and weapons, 'that, but hey, whatever makes you happy!'

Ilyana growled and sprung to her feet, drawing her guns, she would not be outdone!

She wasn't precisely sure of what happened next, all she knew was that Vash went into a flurry of motion and, a second later, she found her hands empty of all guns and a further weapon, one which seemed to have simply appeared in Vash's hand, was pressed to her head.

The Humanoid Typhoon sighed, 'you just don't learn, do you? What is it with you guys and suicidal tendencies! There's so much to look forward to in life, so many better things to do than go round toting guns! I should know... I've been doing it a long time.'

Ilyana whimpered.

'Ah, I see you understand, great!' Vash laughed, 'now, you go off and find some other head to hunt, yeah? Some other bounty… or better yet become a body guard, or maybe a merchant! You'd make a great merchant, really kick ass, right?'

The woman nodded jerkily, there was a wet patch developing between her legs.

'Alright then,' said Vash, 'you can go, have a nice life now!'

The woman back peddled quickly, nearly tripping over her own feet then, when she felt she was at a safe distance, she spun round and fast tracked it away, soon becoming nothing more than a dust speck upon the horizon.

Vash, watching her go, smiled to himself. That was the only second bounty hunter in this month, things were looking up. As much as he liked living with them, he wished Meryl and Millie hadn't let slip his identity. At least the town's people hadn't driven him out. They seemed to be content to let him stay, so long as he didn't cause too much fuss.

The bounty hunters were another matter though, at first it had been five or six per week! But their numbers had petered out as Vash had shown them the error of their ways and now, at last, things were relatively quiet.

This was both a good and a bad thing. On the one hand this was… well, it was the life he had always dreamed of. A quiet place to think and relax, nothing but lazy days, plenty of food, good company, and general acceptance (or something approaching it, anyway.) It was paradise, Eden, except… except…

Vash sighed; his chaotic life must have had more of an effect on him than he'd known. Now things were quiet he almost missed the action. Recently the bounty hunter attacks had become less of a minor annoyance and more of a reprieve from days filled with nothingness.

He had to face it, he was board.

He needed something to do… a job perhaps, which might help if he could find anyone wiling to give him work. Besides, Meryl had been complaining for months now that he should help pay his way, he had been eating rather a lot of their food after all.

Ah… Meryl, he smiled, there was something about that short tempered, bitchy insurance lady… Yes, he'd find work, if only to keep her happy.

But it would have to wait a while; he had Knives to think of. It had been just about eleven months since they'd parted company; his year long trial was nearly up. Soon they'd both have to return to Angel's Rest, the town where Vash had cared for Knives for a year. Then they'd talk, figure out what path Knives wanted to chose, if he'd chosen any yet.

The thought made the gunslinger's heart leap a little in his chest; he hoped he'd decided to go the path of love and peace, or at least a path of tolerance. Then, perhaps, things would be perfect. It would be just him, Knives and the insurance women living here in peace and quiet…

That would be true Eden, right? To live forever here with them…

But no, no it wouldn't be forever, he knew better than that. He'd learned how futile that path was, learned it in his home at Sky City. It had been hard, he remembered, to stand back and watch as all those you love grow old and die around him, to look at people you'd known as children mature and have babies of their own whilst he stayed the same. That was part of the reasoning her took up wandering, the nomadic life style was so much safer and less painful in that way. Knives would never age; he knew that, he'd always have him but the girls…

He shivered at the thought; he really mustn't brood upon it. It was a simple fact, he could remain for now but sooner or later he'd have to leave, it would soon become far too painful to stay.

He shook his head, well, there was no use in brooding, it wouldn't do any good. He needed to take his mind off it, perhaps some food?

He'd been very hungry recently, for reasons he didn't entirely understand himself. Hungry and tired… he'd not been able to do half his usual exercise routine in the morning before collapsing with exhaustion. It was a bit concerning, but hopefully it was nothing. He might see a doctor if it went on like this, but he really didn't want to worry the girls.

Now… food… what should he eat? Doughnuts sounded good; recently their local doughnut stall had started selling these cool little doughnuts with bright silver sprinkles on them! Real silver! But they were rather expensive and he'd probably run out by now, there was only a limited stock after all.

Vash licked his lips at the memory as he rummaged through the cupboards, those doughnuts had been really nice, and he'd eaten quite a few before his 'doughnut budget' had run out. He contemplated taking a trip down to the stall right then, but he really wasn't in the mood, not if silver sprinkles weren't involved. No… now he craved something else…

He rooted around a bit further. Ah, pickles, they were nice… so was cheese, and bread. Yes, a cheese and pickle sandwich with… with… some salmon, yes, a few slices of salmon from the fridge and something else… something like…

He searched deeper, ooh, how about some chicken? Yes, that sounded good, and some mayonnaise, a bit of salad, some beans, maybe a sprinkling of sugar…

At last the mega sandwich was complete, the gunman held it to his mouth and took a large bite.

It tasted disgusting and, when he analysed the situation, it _was_ disgusting. How could all those ingredients mix together? Yet… yet… he craved it. It was what he wanted, more than doughnuts even. How could he resist?

He ate the sandwich, licking up every last crumb. At last he leant back in his chair and sighed in a mixture of contentment and worry. What he needed now, he thought, was a drink… milk perhaps… or maybe whisky… maybe both together…

Meryl Strife wasn't in a very good mood.

She'd been working part time at the café down the road for six weeks now and every day she liked it less and less. It was hot, stuffy, underpaid and thankless, the customers were rude, the other staff ruder and the entire place stank of squalor and ignorance.

The only reason she was doing this at all was to earn a little extra money. Theoretically both she and Millie were still in the employ of Bernelli insurance company but the last pay check had been docked because they didn't get her report on time. Damn postal system! It was hardly her fault that the postal worker had been kidnapped and then impersonated by one of the bounty hunters after Vash.

So, in order to fill in the gap, both she and Millie did some part time work. The larger woman worked at a construction site, a job she rather liked, and Meryl worked at the local café, serving an ungrateful clientele.

Today, for hundreds of small reasons too petty to go into, had been particularly bad. Right now all she wanted was to go home, slump on the nearest chair and have a steaming hot cup of coffee.

Of course, she'd have to contend with Vash first.

Vash… now there was an enigma, a puzzle, a… complication.

She loved him… that much she knew, but whether he felt the same… she knew he liked her, knew he held her very close as a friend how deep the feeling went she was unsure.

When he'd first returned with Knives she had confessed her feelings, not quite saying that she loved him, (she just couldn't get the words out, for some reason, they stuck in her throat whenever she saw him,) but something similar. He had known what she meant, she was sure of it, but he hadn't accepted her.

'Meryl,' he'd said, using her name, something he only did when it was important, 'I… I understand how you feel, but this isn't the time. I need to take care of Knives, I need to save him. When that's done then we'll see… Will you wait for me?'

And she had, she'd waited for him because she'd been waiting a long time anyway. When he was finished with Knives, when he sent his psychopathic brother on a mission of self realization (Meryl was _far_ from happy about that, but what could she do other than scold him about it?) she thought that, at last, it was time.

He'd been staying with them for almost a year now, each day she dropped hints, each day she waited for him to say those words, those three, little words.

He never did.

And she was loosing hope, it wouldn't be long before he'd have to leave to meet up with Knives again, before she lost her chance. Besides, it had been over five years since she'd first encountered Vash the Stampede, she wasn't getting any younger… but then, he wasn't getting any older. She knew that was part of the problem, a large part, but she'd tried to make it clear to him she didn't care, she'd be willing to make the sacrifice, willing to under go the pain if only…

No, there was no room for such thoughts, such silly fantasies. She was a grown woman, not some daydreaming waif. She had a job to do, to monitor, secure and accompany Vash the Stampede. This serving job was just a side issue, as soon as the next pay check came through she'd quit. And as for her relationship with Vash… well, the broom head would work it out sooner or later.

And if he didn't then there were plenty more sand grains in the desert, weren't there?

'Ma'am!'

Meryl turned to the source of the chirpy voice, towards the large form of Millie Thompson, bounding down the road to meet her as if they'd been separated for months, not hours.

She'd no doubt just finished her days work at the construction site. Theoretically she'd finished work half an hour before Meryl, but she always stayed behind to say good bye to all her colleagues.

'Hello Millie,' greeted Meryl, smiling despite herself. There was something about Millie, an infectious cheerfulness, which effected everyone around her. She was a literal ray of sunshine. 'No Martin?'

'Nope, he offered to walk me back but I wanted to get home early, he always wants to stop and chat!'

Martin was a man who Millie worked with, recently he'd taken to walking her home, his interest in her was obvious.

Meryl felt her heart constrict briefly, a surge of instinctive protectiveness surging through her form. No doubt Martin meant well, no doubt his intentions were good but… was Millie ready?

Though she didn't often outwardly show it, Millie had lost the man she'd loved. Meryl sometimes worried that, despite her seemingly well adjusted attitude life, she was still getting over Nicholas's death. That she still hadn't quite come to terms with it.

Perhaps she never would.

'How was your day Ma'am?' asked the bubbly brunette.

'Dreadful,' responded Meryl, 'but it's over now. Let's get back home and sort out whatever chaos Vash has gotten himself into. Useless goof.'

Millie giggled and the two women made their way down the street, back to the home they shared with the infamous Humanoid Typhoon.

The first thing they noticed was the small smears of blood near the window.

'Ah,' said Meryl dully, 'another bounty hunter. No bullet holes though, that's good. Looks like a neat one.'

Millie nodded, this was a relief to both women who, in the months since Vash had arrived to live with them, had grown sick of cleaning blood stains, cementing up bullet holes and buying new furniture. Living with Vash really was like living with a disaster area occasionally.

Speaking of disaster areas…

Meryl gawped in shock at the sight which greeted her as she entered the kitchen. It looked like it had been hit by a small grenade. Empty food packages were strewn across the room, cupboards were open and half bare. And amidst this all, next to a food stained table, was the Vash the Stampede, stuffing his face.

'Mmm….?' Vash made a noise of slight alarm as the two entered, he quickly swallowed his mouthful, 'Hi insurance girls!' he greeted, waving, 'how were your days?'

'Fine thank you Mr Vash,' responded Millie.

'What… what…' Meryl tried to spit out the words, but something in her throat, a lump of rage, was preventing her from forming complete sentences at that moment.

'Oh this?' asked Vash, lifting up what he was currently eating, 'this is carrot sticks dipped in chocolate.'

'That doesn't sound very nice,' commented Millie.

'It isn't,' replied Vash, 'but I just… need it, you know? It's like a craving.'

'That's a strange craving.'

'Yeah, maybe I'm getting sick or something.'

'Sick? Sick?' Meryl stuttered, 'sick! You faker! You ate all our food! This mess you… you… you layabout, gluttonous, lying… AUGH!'

She launched herself at Vash, who leapt up from his chair, avoiding her furious charge, 'hold it, hold it!' he yelled, 'I'll pay for the food, I'll pay!'

'Oh, you'll pay!' yelled the short insurance woman, 'you'll pay through the nose!'

She waved a fist threateningly, Vash backed away, his feet slipping occasionally on the litter filled floor, his gangly limbs waving about comically.

'Millie!' he turned to the taller woman, pleading, 'please, help!'

But Millie only stood there, her mouth an O of surprise and indecision. No aid to be had from that quarter.

Meryl advanced, her own mouth a straight line of determination, her eyes glittering with vicious intent.

'Please don't hurt me!' squeaked Vash, 'I'm sick!'

'And you'll be even sicker when I'm through with you!'

'But I-' suddenly Vash stopped mid sentence, he paused and his entire posture changed.

It was always a strange sight, seeing him change so completely. It was if he became a different person, his eyes narrowed, the terror left his face, eyebrows knitted together ever so slightly. His limbs stopped waving and flailing and, instead, became hard and steady, even his very voice changed. Deepening, becoming more thoughtful, more sincere.

'Millie,' he said, and though his voice was deeper it was also somewhat quieter than might have been expected, 'catch me.'

'Huh?' said both women simultaneously before, with all the grace of a falling brick, Vash the Stampede keeled straight over, landing in the piles of cast off food packaging.

'Oh dear!' squeaked Millie, 'I didn't catch him in time! You don't think he'll be upset with me when he wakes up?'

'No time to worry about that, Millie,' snapped Meryl, rushing to grab hold of the slender gunman's feet 'help me lift him, we've got to get him to his room!'

'Yes Ma'am' responded her companion, easily lifting Vash's upper body up, 'you don't suppose he really is sick, do you?'

'I… I don't know Millie,' said Meryl, 'I don't think so, the idiot's probably faking it just to get out of trouble.'

Millie nodded, believing Meryl's word, Meryl just wished she could believe it herself. It was altogether possible for Vash to feign illness, but not like this. He wouldn't make himself faint just to avoid a clip around the ear. Not that he liked being hit by her, (or, at least, not to her knowledge,) but he wouldn't usually go to such lengths to avoid it. He could easily dodge any of her blows anyway, if he'd wanted to. No, this was real and given all his other odd behaviour recently, it certainly leant credence to the idea that he was becoming ill.

She just hoped it wasn't serious.

He was dreaming.

He knew he was dreaming because he was in the Blue Space, the space he usually encountered Rem in. Here there was nothing but peace, tranquillity and, it appeared, rather a lot of butterflies.

Sitting besides him his brother Knives watched the insects intently.

'Why are we here?' asked Knives.

'I don't know,' said Vash, the words coming to him easily, making perfect sense in the way all words spoken in dreams so, 'perhaps we'll never find out, but… I'm scared, I think I'm being pushed back into the cocoon.'

'Better than dying,'

'Only marginally, I don't want to loose my wings, Knives.'

'You shouldn't be worried by your wings, Vash,' remarked Knives, looking straight at him, 'it's your arms that are in danger right now.'

Vash's eyes widened and he glanced down at his torso. He let out a chocked scream at what he saw. His arms, both his arms, were now nothing more than bleeding stumps and, covering those stumps, slurping up the blood that leaked from them, were hundreds of butterflies.

Swarms of the pretty yellow insects flew towards Vash, alighting on his arms and shoulders, draining away his blood like some bazaar form of vampire.

'Knives!' yelled Vash desperately, 'help me! I need you!'

But Knives was gone and the butterflies continued to attack. Soon they had covered every inch of his body, tickling his limbs, searching for blood, burrowing under his skin, surging into his open, screaming mouth.

With one, last, almighty wail of torment the dream shattered and broke around him.

To Be Continued…

NB: In future chapters I will have some Reader Replies here. So let me know what you think!


	3. Sympathy for the Devil

Chapter 2

Sympathy for the Devil

A man walked through the desert, his steps were slow and steady, his gaze, hidden beneath dark, sharp, sunglasses,(1) was directed determinedly towards the horizon. Occasionally he shifted the sack slung across his back to a more comfortable position, but other than that his stride was regular and continuous.

After a while he paused, spying something in the distance. He stood still, watching the object come closer, when it came within shouting distance he called to it.

'Hey, you! Stop!'

His voice, deep and even, held a commanding tone which made the figure, a woman clad in black leather and various weapons, to do as she was bidden.

'What?' she asked, he noticed that her voice held an edge of terror about it.

'I was wondering, there's a town up ahead, correct?'

'Y-Yes.'

'Do you know if Vash the Stampede lives there?'

The woman nodded violently, her entire body trembling with the force of her bobbing head, 'yes he does,' she said, 'but if I were you, I'd stay well away from him. The man's a monster! Not human! No amount of money is worth it, friend.'

'Oh really?' sneered the man.

'Definitely, he-' the woman paused, her eyes narrowed, 'hold on… I know you, I've seen you.'

'You have?'

'Yeah, on wanted posters! You're Knives 'The Razor' Bluesummers, aren't you!'

She drew her out a machine gun, which had previously been slung across her shoulders, she grinned wickedly, 'you may not be worth nearly as much as Vash the Stampede, 'The Razor,' but you'll do! Now stay still or I'll pump you full of lead!'

The man sighed and pulled of his black shades, revealing eyes the same colour as the blue trench coat that was draped across his slender form. But these eyes were icy blue, so cold they could freeze fire, 'I don't suppose,' he drawled, 'you'd believe me if I told you that I was Vash's twin brother?'

'No way in hell, sonny boy.'

'I thought not… they never do…' the latter was sighed under his breath as, slowly, he reached to his side.

'Hold it,' shrieked the woman, 'don't you dare try to draw! No one can outsmart or outfight Ilyana the Destroyer… well, with the possible exception of Vash the-'

Once again, she didn't get much further with her tirade before the man known as Knives 'the Razor,' Bluesummers brought his leg up, kicking her in the stomach. As she fell he reached forward with one hand, snatching the machine gun from her grip and, with his other hand, brought out his own weapon.

She looked up at him, he was smiling though his grin held none of the strange warmth that Vash the Stampede's had, it was twisted and mocking.

'You know,' he said smoothly to the gasping woman, his gun pointed at her head, 'no one ever listens to me. You'd do a lot better if-'

'I know, I know,' the woman half whimpered, 'become a merchant, right?' She straightened up and began backing away from Knives, who kept his gun trained on her. He noticed that a vain in her head was throbbing lightly, she had a manic grin plastered across her face.

'Or was it a wife? Maybe a merchant's wife! Or a merchant of wives… perhaps a wife's merchant… yeah, and kick their asses! HAHAHAHAHA!'

Her laugh was a cross between a manic giggle and a scream, 'have a nice life!' she shrieked before turning on her heel and fleeing, running into the wasteland still giggling manically.

Knives watched her go, a rather shocked look on his face. Eventually he sighed, 'strange creature,' he muttered under his breath, before slipping his sun glasses back on.

He dropped the machine gun in the sand, holstered his own weapon and started off once more, moving forward towards the town where his brother had taken up residence.

'Meryl,' the voice was a soft, breathy whisper, barely audible.

'Yes?' asked the short insurance girl, leaning over her stricken patient.

'Please… I… I need…'

'Yes?'

'I would like…'

'Yes?'

'A dozen doughnuts and a bottle of Wild Turkey.'

Meryl hit her patient over the head with a pillow.

'Hey!' yelped Vash, raising his arms to fend off her attacks, 'is that any way to treat a dying man!'

'You're not dying you faker,' sniped back Meryl, 'you're not even that sick! You're just using it as an excuse to force us to do everything for you!'

'Am not!'

Meryl opened her mouth to say something more when there was a knocking at the door.

'I'll get it!' she called out to Millie before storming out of the room, giving Vash an ugly look.

She marched to the door, wondering who it could be? It was a Sunday so there wouldn't be anyone from work asking why she was absent.

She'd taken the week off to care for Vash, though she wasn't sure he really needed her attention. He was ill, that she couldn't deny, though undoubtedly not as ill as he pretended he was. So far his main symptoms had been dizziness, odd cravings, general weakness and occasional fainting spells. Nothing so much dangerous as it was strange but, though Meryl didn't want to show it, she was concerned. She'd never known Vash to be ill before.

She reached the door and pulled it open, reminding herself to be polite even though she wasn't in much of a mood for visitors.

At the sight of the tall, blue eyed, pale haired man Meryl's heart stopped and not in a good way.

'Hello Mr Knives!' chirped Mille the hallway behind her, greeting the ex-murderer in her usual, easy going manner, 'I like your new coat.'

At her companion's words Meryl's mind snapped into gear, there was the sound of rusting cloth, clicking mettle and a brief blur of movement.

Knives found himself looking down the barrel of a derringer.

'Hello Miss Tomas, Miss Rife,' said Knives dryly, 'still as friendly and welcoming as ever, I see,'

'It's Millie Thompson and Meryl Strife,' growled Meryl, 'and what the hell are you doing here? You and Vash aren't supposed to meet up for-'

She didn't get any further before she was interrupted by the overjoyed scream of 'KNIIIIIIIIIIIVES!' and the large shape of Vash the Stampede jumped straight over her and barrelled into the stunned Knives.

'Get off me,' growled Knives from underneath the body of his over enthusiastic brother, who was hugging him desperately.

'Aren't you supposed to be lying in bed?' deadpanned Meryl.

'He must be feeling a lot better!' said Millie, 'but my big sister always said that, when you're ill, the best place to be is with your family!'

Not when it's _his_ family thought Meryl, as she watched the manic gunslinger extricate himself from his brother, 'sorry,' he said, 'it's good to see you Knives. But what _are_ you doing here? We're supposed to meet in Angel's Rest in three weeks time.'

'I didn't think you'd be well enough,' replied Knives picking himself up off the dirt and dusting himself down, 'so I decided to come to you.'

'How did you know I was sick?'

'You told me, in those dreams you keep sending me, with the vampire butterflies? Nice going there, I've hardly had a wink of sleep in the past week.'

'That explains why you're so crabby,' said Vash, 'sorry about the dreams, I didn't know you'd get them… how did you pick up on them, any how?'

'I don't know. I presumed you were sending them to me, trying to get a message through.'

Vash shook his head, for the first time looking solemn. Meryl wished she could fully understand what they were blabbing on about.

'Well then,' sighed Knives, rubbing his back, 'let me in and we'll talk.'

'Hold on!' Meryl yelled, crossing her arms, 'think for a moment, Broom Head, are we just going to let him in? How do we know _he's _not the one making you sick?'

'But Meryl,' whined Vash, 'he's changed! He wouldn't do anything like that, would you Knives?'

He looked to his brother who frowned and shook his head.

'So? Who's to say he wasn't just pretending, or that he hasn't changed back! You know what he's capable of, Vash, better than anyone.'

'Miss Strife,' said Knives smoothly, a cold smile crossing his features, 'if, theoretically, I was behind my Brother's illness, then why would I be here anyway, when it is logical that I too would be susceptible? Also, my talents, many as they are, do not stretch to bio-engineering and even if they did, wouldn't it be more likely that I would Bioengineer a plague to wipe out the human population, rather than going after my idiot of a brother who couldn't stop it any how?'

'I agree,' put in Vash, his voice solemn, 'aside from everything else, this just isn't your style.'

'So good to have you behind me on this, Vash,' remarked Knives dryly.

'Can't stab me in the back that way,' Vash retorted.

'Well then,' said Millie, grinning and clapping her hands together, seemingly oblivious to the tense nature of the situation, 'let's go in! Who'd like some coffee?'

Fifteen minutes later Knives and Vash were sitting at the kitchen table, the girls having gone out to do, Meryl claimed, some shopping.

They sat quietly, tending cups of steaming coffee, neither sure of what to say next.

'So…' said Vash, 'how was it… your year, I mean…?'

'It was… interesting,' replied Knives, his voice reserved.

'Interesting? How so? You didn't… you didn't kill…'

'No,' snapped Knives, 'of course not, I promised you I wouldn't and I didn't but…' he gritted his teeth, 'damn Vash,' he spat, 'it's just useless!'

'Huh?'

'Useless! When I left Angel's Rest a year ago I left looking for answers. I left with an eye to finding the truth, finding the way to Eden, finding out what the true nature of Humans was, if they weren't spiders.'

'And?'

'And it's… it's impossible! I swear it, absolutely impossible! Every time I think I've found an answer, I'm proved wrong. I've seen people be so kind and then so vicious! I've seen a man rescue and tend a wounded animal with such tenderness… then the next day beat his own child to a bloody pulp! They cling onto life with manic desperation, but so many of them just waste it getting drunk or risking their lives needlessly! They're so full of contradictions it's… it's… incomprehensible!'

Vash grinned, 'yeah, I know,' he said, 'great, isn't it?'

Knives gave him a dour look.

'Listen,' sighed Vash, 'I said you should go and find answers, I didn't say it was going to be easy, or that what answer you find will be right. I looked for over a century, trying to find my answer whether I knew it or not, and even now I'm not completely sure it's right.'

Knives sighed and buried his head in his hands, 'honestly Vash,' he muttered, 'setting me such an impossible task… sometimes I think you're far more evil than I ever gave you credit for.'

'Thanks… I think. So, are you going to continue looking?'

'Probably, the year's not quite over yet. But one way or another, I won't stop searching. Ever since I was young, I've wondered who I was, what we were doing here, what we were meant for, how we fit into this,' he waved his arms round vaguely, 'I'm not going to stop asking those questions. The only issue is _how_ I ask them.'

Vash frowned at Knives over his coffee but said nothing.

'So,' continued Knives at last, 'what exactly is wrong with you and how bad is it?'

Vash filled his brother in with the symptoms of his ailment, 'it's getting worse,' he added, 'I've not been letting onto the girls of course, but I am getting weaker and weaker. The cravings are lessening a bit, but I'm beginning to get this… itchy feeling all over my skin and…'

'Yes?'

Vash sighed and looked around, as if checking to see no one was spying on them. Then he quickly undid the top buttons on his shirt, pushing the garment open so that his brother could see his bare shoulders.

Shoulders which were covered in soft white, downy feathers.

Knives openly gawped, at a complete loss for words, Vash pulled his shirt closed.

'Please,' he said, 'don't tell the girls about it yet, I don't want to worry them.'

'When did this start?' asked Knives, recovering himself somewhat.

'About two weeks ago, that's when I started feeling weaker than usual, though the feathers are very recent. I saw the doctor a few days back, but he had no idea.'

'I wouldn't think he would,' said Knives, 'this isn't a human disease, that your telepathy has been effected also proves that beyond doubt.'

'Yeah, I gathered that by the dream thing. Knives this is… scary.'

Though he wouldn't admit it, Knives was inclined to agree. What could be causing this? Plants, to his knowledge, were immune to disease and even if they weren't, surely he would be the one more likely to catch such a plague, rather than Vash. He'd spent more time with Plants after all. Could it be some sort of Plant/human cross breed virus? That would make some sense, but how would such a disease come into being in the first place? So maybe it wasn't a disease… maybe it was an evolution. He had theorized, once, that their current form was some sort of evolutional defect, or maybe a larvae form, ready to mutate into something else. Yet, once again, if that was true then he would be the one effected first, surely? He was the one who'd explored his plant abilities the most. Why Vash? Could it be poison of some sort? That made some sense, if not for the strange effects. Knives was no expert on toxins, but he felt sure it would be a strange venom indeed if it was having this sort of an effect on his brother.

Whatever it was, it was like nothing he had ever encountered before and it was probably going to be very difficult to reverse, or even stop.

But there was no reason to worry Vash, he'd do his best. All he knew at the moment was that there must be a reason it had happened now, some sort of trigger, whether it be another person with the disease, some merging with a fellow plant or some poisoned produce.

'Don't worry brother,' soothed Knives, 'we'll work this out. Now tell me, what have you been doing differently that could have caused this?'

'I don't know… nothing much really…'

'Think back, Vash, has anything unusual happened recently?'

'Knives, in my life unusual things are the usual.'

'Can you stop being smart ass for one moment and answer my question?'

'And that,' Vash said, an hour later, 'is all the unusual things that have happened to me this month.'

Knives muttered something under his breath and took a swig of his coffee. The he realized it had gone cold, made a face and spat it back out.

'Well then,' he said, 'I suppose I'd best start investigating then.'

'What do you mean?'

'I mean I'm going into town, to ask some questions, I might learn something new.'

'OK Knives,' Vash said in a sing-song voice, 'but remember, be friendly and nice! Really, it can get you a long way. People are more likely to want to help you if you flash them the odd smile.'

'Don't worry,' assured Knives, 'I will.'

(1) Somewhere out there, if you search, there's a picture from the Manga of Knives wearing shades. I'm talking about those shades. They're nifty cool!

Notes:

I'm not that happy with this chapter, to be honest, but rest assured that it is, in my opinion, the worst chapter in the story. It gets better from here on in.

At the moment the Review Replies will be answered here, but if it gets too extensive I may move it to my LJ. (Where, I might add, some of my other fic is held, go check it out!)

**Review Replies:**

**Angelstryke**: Nice to see you back! Missed you lots, I hope your story is going well. Anyhow, I am trying to give this fic a more anime-ish feeling in tone and mood, hence the large amounts of humour that will keep cropping up (though there'll be more serious stuff in here too.) And yes, lots more Meryl to come. Gods she's fun to write! And Meryl-Knives interactions just… well, they just rock. Oh, and thanks for reminding me about the Next Time blurbs… I'd quite forgotten about those… heheheh…

**Jillian S**: Thanks! That's really great coming from a talented writer like you! I hope I continue to impress, please keep reviewing!

**Hope-is-4ever**: Bad girl! Not reviewing my fic! I think I might cry now… But seriously, I'm sorry about the angst, will this fic be angst-ridden? I don't know, depends on your perception. It will certainly have angst in it, but there'll be fun stuff here too. So it's a matter of opinion, I guess. I'm going to try and update this somewhere between once a week and once a month, depending on the amount of reviews I get. I don't mind holding off a bit. But, with any luck, I WILL continue to post, so never lose hope.

**Aine**** of Knockaine**: I do hope you like How Far is Eden? I've been told it's one of the best Trigun fics out there so…

Is Vash Pregnant? Well… we'll have to see, won't we:evil grin:

**Reiora**: Yma rejoices that Rei has reviewed! Yma is glad that the second chapter is unique, and hopes this one will be too. Yma hopes Rei continues to review! (Or should that be Rei-view?)

**LeDiz** Yay! No, you're not reading too much into Rem being there… but that will be saved for later (: Glad the second chapter was creepy. Though I'm not sure that was the effect I was going for… ah well. You liked Ilyana? Hope you enjoyed her meeting Knives here too! Poor girl… I do try very hard to keep to the mood of the Anime here, I feel it's necessary. I wonder… is it possible to make that sandwich? (NOTE, on Gunsmoke, sandwiches do live up to their name!) Now there's a challenge for you. I'm happy that the dream went well, dreams are very cool and fun to write… but then this is coming from the person who relishes writing insane characters. Thanks for the corrections, I'd no beta-reader for this, so no time to fix such corrections. See you next time?

**Inkydoo**: Glad this fic is 'totally good,' please keep reviewing!

**J**: Ah, a nice short name. Gotta love it. Sorry this chapter is so short, but they'll get longer/better from here on in. Thanks for the complements!

NEXT TIME: Rumours, ghosts, madmen and confectionary items all come under the scrutiny of Million Knives Bluesummers gaze. Meanwhile, Meryl grouches, Millie cries, and Vash… does his thing.


	4. Heaven Sent and Hell Spawn

Please read the Authors notes at the end of this section.

Chapter 3

Heaven Sent and Hell Spawn 

'I said,' snarled the tall, blond man, slamming the shop proprietor, Jason Bell, against the back wall of his booth, 'I want some doughnuts with silver sprinkles!'

Jason gibbered, out of his wits with fear. It wasn't so much the physical violence that was scary, it was the way the man was smiling, a horrid, evil grin which chilled his blood.

'I-I'm sorry,' he stuttered, 'but I don't have any!'

'You sold some to my brother, Vash, just over a week ago!' yelled the man, still smiling.

'Y-yes, yes, we had a lot of demand for those, but we've run out! There aren't any more left!

'Then where did you get them from?' the man's voice was sugary sweet, dripping with wicked intent.

'I-I got them from a m-man who was passing through here last week.'

'What did he look like?'

'I can't remember!'

The maniac slammed him against the wall again, his smirk did not abate, Jason couldn't help but let out a shrill scream.

'A hood, a hood!' he shrieked at last, 'he was wearing a hood! I couldn't see his face!'

'Oh? And do you often buy produce from mysterious men in hoods?'

Jason whimpered and quietly wet himself.

Sighing, the tall man let him go, or rather threw him away. Jason landed hard on the sandy floor of his booth and quickly crawled backwards, attempting to get as much distance between him and the maniac as possible.

Said maniac, mean while, smoothly leapt over the wooden plank that was the serving bar for the stall, his blue coat tails flying out behind him. He landed easily and proceeded to examine the ground beneath him, acting as if Jason didn't even exist.

Which was something Jason was very glad of.

A few moments later he seemed to have found something. Reaching under the counter he rooted around in the dust. Straining his eyes Jason just made out that he was picking up something… silver things, out of the dirt. He was collecting up the silver sprinkles that had fallen from the doughnuts as they were served.

At last it seemed he had found them all. He straightened up, tossed Jason one final, evil smile, and leaped back over the counter before sauntering away.

'Mysterious men in cloaks?' the barkeeper, a dark skinned, slender woman who was forever cleaning glasses, laughed harshly, 'sir, we got those guys coming out of our ears ever since Vash the Stampede moved into town. One wacko actually called this place 'quaint!' can you imagine that? Load o' of freaks, I'm telling you.'

'Yes,' snapped Knives, tapping his finger irritably on the table, 'but was there any… exceptional? Anyone that stood out more than usual?'

'Nope,' the bar tender replied, 'not that I noticed, just a steady stream of weirdoes,' she sighed and cocked her head, as if dredging her memory, 'the only odd thing to happen recently was that ghost sighting.'

Knives' ears pricked, seeing his interest the bar tender continued, 'Ol' Billy says he saw something, a few days back, maybe he can tell you more?'

Knives nodded and strode out.

'That's one more freak to add to the tally,' the woman muttered under her breath as he left.

Old Billy turned out to be a gangly, ragged man who lived on the very edge of town. He wore a torn shirt and dungarees, only one strap of which was done up. Spittle flew from his wrinkled mouth as he ranted at Knives, his skinny arms waving about manically, his grey beard waggling along with his over sized mouth.

'Yes siree I saw it! Huge it was! Bigger than any bird, black as black against the night sky! Blocked out the stars it did! And moan! My, did it moan! Like the shrieks of the damned it were, moaning and groaning above me as it zoomed over! Feared for my life I did!'

'Did you?'

'Too righty! But I ain't too sure it's ghosts no more!'

'You ain- I mean aren't?'

'Nope, I reckon it was them aliens, come to take us all away! My ol' grand papa, he said that they use ships, jus' like that! I reckon that they're gonna come and take us all up and… and do stuff to us! I reckon this is the end friend!'

'The end?'

'Aye, the end! Hark my words, it's comin' the end of the world, the final bow of the human race! Judgement day is upon us brother!'

'We can but hope…' muttered Knives ruefully under his breath.

'What's that sonny?'

'Never mind,' said the Plant, trudging away again, paying no more attention to Old Billy as he continued to rant and rave behind him.

'I don't know,' sighed Meryl, 'I just have a really bad feeling about this.'

'I know what you mean,' agreed Millie, 'Mr Vash is really sick.'

The two women were sitting at a small table outside their local café, not the one that Meryl worked out (she knew what they did to the coffee there,) but another one in the high street. As always, it felt odd talking about people like Vash the Stampede in such a normal, quiet setting.

'You think so?' she asked Millie, 'he seems to be just faking it…'

'Oh, he's just acting like that so that we won't worry,' said her perceptive partner, carefully sucking the last of her ice cream from her spoon.

Meryl nodded, once she would have argued otherwise, but she knew to trust Millie's judgement in this. Millie had a habit of seeing what was actually there and, whilst this meant she lacked all subtly, it also meant that she could be relied upon to read people, especially those like Vash, very well.

Besides, now she knew the gunslinger a bit better it made a lot of sense.

Meryl sighed and stirred her coffee absently, sometimes she wished Vash would trust them a little bit more. Didn't he know that, after all they'd been through together, they were capable of handling the truth? That they could take care of things, or at least not make matters any worse. She hated being uninformed.

'What about Knives then,' she said at last, 'do you think he can be trusted? I don't like it Millie, not one little bit. I don't think he caused this but…'

'I don't think Mr Knives would do anything to hurt Vash now,' said Millie, 'he seems a lot better.'

'Does he?' Meryl sighed, 'I'm not so sure.'

'He hasn't killed or hurt anyone, we'd know and so would Vash.'

'True, but that doesn't mean he's changed for good. Knives is unstable Millie, he might be all sweetness and light now but will he be like that in a few days time? He's volatile.'

'So is Mr Vash.'

'Yes but, though I never thought I'd say this, Vash has more control. He has morals.'

'So does Knives I think, just… different ones.'

Meryl shrugged, 'maybe, but we'd better keep an eye on him.'

'Yes Ma'am.'

'Millie…'

'Yes?'

'Um… are you alright with this? I mean Knives… he did… ah…'

'I'm fine Ma'am,' Mille blurted, grinning, 'just fine, don't worry about me!'

Meryl narrowed her eyes at that large, almost too happy smile. She'd seen expressions like that on Vash, it was probably where Millie had picked up the habit.

'Millie…' she began.

'Ooh look,' interrupted the tall woman, 'there he is now, Mr Knives! I wonder if he's found out anything new…'

Meryl doubted it, Vash's irritable and irritating twin had been stalking the town streets for the past few days, picking up information and he'd found little conclusive yet. Meryl wouldn't have minded as much, except Vash wouldn't hear of him staying anywhere else other than with him and the girls. Which meant they had to put up with the rehabilitated, snappish psychopath twenty four seven.

Knives, hearing his name mentioned, strode towards them and pulled himself up a chair from a near by table, much to Meryl's annoyance.

'Where's the waitress?' he grunted, 'I need coffee.'

'I'm sure she'll be along directly,' said Meryl coolly, her dislike for the icy Plant going up a few notches, she hated grumpy customers, even if they weren't hers at the moment.

'Have you found out anything?' asked Millie, her voice hopeful.

'No,' growled Knives, 'I'm reduced to scrounging around for doughnut sprinkles and investigating crack-pot ghost sightings, if you'll believe it. There's nothing here, no clues whatsoever, or nothing obvious any way… I'm beginning to think that I might as well give up.'

'But you can't give up!' protested Millie, half rising out of her chair, 'Mr Vash needs you!'

'I'm not talking about that,' replied Knives, 'what I mean is that I don't think this place holds anything else for us. No clues and no way to help Vash.'

'You're suggesting we leave?' asked Meryl, displeasure evident in her voice.

'I'm suggesting my brother and I leave, if you insist on tagging on with us that's entirely your business,' Knives sniffed disdainfully.

Meryl clenched her fists on the table and resisted the urge to tip her still half full cup of coffee over the arrogant Plant's head. She opened her mouth to say something sharp but, luckily for all involved, Millie headed her off.

'So where are you thinking of going to?'

'I've been running a few ideas through my head,' said Knives, 'and I suppose the best place to go would be…'

'Home!' crowed Vash, his eyes alight with joy, 'that's great!'

'Home?' echoed Millie,' but Mr Vash, I thought _this_ was your home?'

'Well, it is… kinda… but it's not my home, I mean… it's not like… well… Sky City, not like my real home.'

'So why have you been staying here with us these past few months then?' enquired Meryl, her voice icy, 'if you've got a home to go to?'

'Um… to make your job easier?' said Vash, hopefully, 'besides, I thought you liked my company!'

Meryl muttered something under her breath that not even the keen eared Plant brothers could catch.

'So,' said Knives, deciding to get the conversation back on track, 'you agree that it is a good idea?'

'Sure I do,' replied Vash, 'it's the best place, it has all the technology we could need and no one alive knows more about Plant Biology than the Doctor. He'll fix me up in no time!'

'Then it's settled,' said Knives, 'we're going to Sky City!'

'Hold on,' barked Meryl, 'how exactly are we going to get there? Walking is out of the question, Vash is in no condition for it for one thing and for another it would take months! Stand Steamer or Bus would take almost as long, when you count delays between transfers and we haven't got any sort of car. And stealing one,' she glared at the two men, 'is _not_ an option.'

'Don't worry Ma'am,' put in Millie, much to everyone's surprise, 'I've got an idea!'

Knives could barely hold himself back from openly gawking at the scene, he'd never encountered anything quite like it outside toy and sweet shops. It was the most accomplished piece of manipulation he'd witnessed for a long time.

'A-and he's just been getting worse!' wailed Millie, fake tears streaming down her eyes, 'I'm so worried about him Mr Mark, I don't know how we're going to get him to that specialist hospital in December!'

Mr Mark, a tall bearded man, didn't seem quite sure what to do with himself. He learned towards Millie and put a meaty hand on her shoulder, 'Um, it's OK,' he stuttered, 'I'm sure it'll all work out some how…'

'But how will we get him there in time!' Millie sobbed, her tears running fast, 'he's going to die! I just know it! And there's nothing I can doooo!'

'There, there,' soothed Mark, 'you… we… hey, why don't I lend you my Jeep?'

Millie wiped the tears from her cheeks and looked at him, wide eyed, 'what?' she asked.

'My Jeep, I'm not using it at the moment, you can use to get Mr Vash to that hospital, so long as you take care of it.'

Millie clapped her hands joyously, 'oh Mr Mark,' she squealed, 'you're so kind! How can we take it?'

'Well if you-'

'Of course we will,' interrupted Millie, picking the bulky man up and swinging him round as if he were no more than a child, 'oh thank you! Thank you!'

From the corner of his mouth, Vash whispered, 'quite something, isn't she Knives?'

Knives could only nod.

'It's amazing what people will do for love,' continued Vash, his eyes lingering on the sight of Mille and Mark. 'You know,' he continued, 'you should find someone like that, not Millie necessarily… but there are some girls around who-'

'I'm not interested in girls,' growled Knives before his brother could get any further.

'Oh,' responded Vash simply and, much to Knives relief, dropped the matter.

**AUTHOR NOTES:**

Hello, right a couple of small notes to make here.

1: About Vash's condition, as fun as it is to spin it out, I really don't want to loose readers by this. So I can assure you all now that Vash isn't pregnant. I'm not saying what IS happening to him, or why, but this WON'T turn into an M-Preg. You have my promise on that.

Secondly there comes the question of Reader Responses. Now, I LOVE reviews, and long reviews really make my day. Indeed, one of the reasons why this chapter is coming in a little early is the quality and quantity of reviews I've got. It's wonderful to see! However, that said, it does lead to a problem. In that FFN isn't that happy about lengthy review replies (which your reviews certainly merit!) in a story. This leaves me with a small quandary, which I put to you to answer…

Would you like me to put review replies in my LJ?

What this would mean is that you continue to review as normal but, on the same day I post the latest chapter of EC (Eden's Children,) I post Review Replies on my LJ (found via my profile link.) This is good for three reasons: 1: It keeps FFN mods happy. 2: it means that I can reply on a more personal basis, (and reply at length, my LJ takes anonymous posters.) and 3: it gets people into my LJ, which means more people to read my otherstories! (OK, that last one's good for ME, but still…)

The downside, of course, is that it does mean you'll have to check my LJ for your replies, which may or may not be a good thing.

So basically I'm asking for a vote, if you don't mind/want the LJ Review Replies, then say so, otherwise I'll continue as I am and we'll just have to take the risk over the FFN mods. OK? Cool. Now, onto the real Review Replies…

Review Replies…

Once more thanks for all your replies, the more I get the faster I update! (though I'll ALWAYS update within a month, so don't worry about that.)

**Jillian S**: No, as I've mentioned, he's not pregnant, but there IS something seriously wrong with him… but you'll have to wait to see what…

**Alan Quicksilver**: Hello! Glad to see you're still around. Thank you very much, I'm glad you like it. No real pointers on the sequel thing, just have a good story and make sure it fits with your last one, really. Hope this contuse living up to your expectations, let me know how your own story goes.

**Tir-synni**Yay! Not that slowly, once a week is gonna be about the benchmark. But with some of the cliff hangers I've got ready… well, let's say it might seem a little longer… hehehe…

**LeDiz**: You couldn't be unimpressive if you tried. Good luck with the Sandwich, I reckon they must make sandwiches with sand, I mean there's so much of it! Does Ilyana rock? I think she rocks, she's insane, but she rocks. What did you think of the Anime antics in this chapter? Yeah, scary dreams also rock. Lots of things rock. See my notes for Vash and pregnancies. Oh, and to be fair, Knives DID smile. He did a lot of smiling, hehehe. Yeah, humans are strange, strange creatures, but we're so much fun to work out! I like the huge review, it makes me happy and feel all literary and stuff. Go me!

**Hope-is-4ever**: Don't worry, there's more Meryl/Knives interaction to come. And also more Vash/Knives, Vash/Meryl, Millie/Knives, and some Vash/Millie. In short, lots and lots of interaction. It's the best bit of writing! And the month thing is only if I get very few reviews. At this rate it's gonna be one every week, or less!

**Maria**: I'm very glad you liked it, ICness means a lot to me. As does humour, though as you read you'll see a range of stuff appearing, humour/angst/mystery, lots of stuff. Please keep reviewing and telling me what you think of it.

**Magnet-Rose**: Glad to see you here! Can you supply a link to that Knives picture? I've no idea where it came from and I'd kinda like to see it again… Saying you like it is enough, though if you can think of any bits you particularly liked, or bits that didn't quite work for you is cool too. And speculation's always fun. Anyway, it's always good to see you around, hope this chapter was good too.

**Ravenclaw42**: Great to see you around! I'm happy that you're enjoying this, though it's spooky the way so many of our chapter titles are the same… I'm thinking about E-mailing you with the rest of them to make sure it doesn't continue to go that way… A lot of people preferred the Prologue, and that makes sense. It was the last thing I wrote on this… (yeah, I know, strange. But I wrote an epilogue and if you write an epilogue you kind of need a prologue so…) This story actually follows the formula of the anime in that the beginning will contain quite a bit of anime humour. The ending… well… you'll see. And if you guess exactly what's happening to Vash, then you REALLY deserve a cookie. Some people have strayed close to the answer already, but none of them have touched upon WHY. Hehehe… see you next time I hope!

**Inkydoo** Nope, not pregnant. The Razor? Ah, you'll learn a little about that in the next chapter. But isn't it cool?

**Glass Bullet:** Yeah, killing Vash is fun. Oh my God! You killed Wolfwood! You Bastards! Heheheh. Please keep reviewing if you can! It makes me feel good to see such cool authors looking at my stuff.

**Lunis**: Yeah, this is already finished, but I'm putting it up bit by bit because… well, it's more fun that way. I'm evil, I know. The chapter was OK, but not much happens. This chapter is a bit the same really, but from now on it gets a lot better.

**Angelstryke**: You CANNOT escape the blurbs! I'm happy that bit worked for people, I love being cruel to Bounty hunters, especially female ones which are supposed to stereotypically fall in love with Vash or Knives :sigh: Meryl's working is she? Good, I found myself having great fun writing her, I must confess. And don't worry about the Pregnancy rout. It's not happening, I just loved stringing you guys along, that's all. But please, give me SOME credit! What if the disease is infectious? Oh, wouldn't that be just terrible for poor Knives! Would I do a thing like that? Mmmm? The Razor will be partly explained later. But at least some of it comes from the fact I thought it sounded cool. I may yet enter the dark side with this story… you never know…

And keep up the rambling reviews, I LOVE rambling reviews, though the Mods might not like Rambling replies so much… :sigh:

**Ain of Knockaine**: As I said, it's going to depend on the amount of reviews I get. I'll post once a month at the VERY least. But if I get a reasonable amount of reviews, I'll post as much as once a week. Or even more! That answer your question?

**Alowl**: Hello! Glad to see you around! Yeah, this is a lot more action orientated, but there's plenty of emotional and thoughtful stuff here too, plus some character development. Loved your fan-poetry by the way. It rocked. And as for your idea on the… ah… condition… well you'll see… you'll see…

**Reiora**: … have a cookie. No seriously, have one. You've just said something very… well… important. Hehehe. You are on the ball. I'm glad Knives is amusing you. You're one smart person, you know that:grin:

**Gothmiko**: I'm glad you liked How Far is Eden. And it's loverly to see you here. Please keep reviewing, as for what's happening to Vash… well you'll just have to wait and see.

**IRS**: YAY! Thanks so much for reviewing, it means a lot. The back story to his nickname will be revealed in the next chapter. The bounty huntress seems to have tickled a lot of people. I like having a little Anime style humour in this, makes it feel more… Trigun like. I look forward to hearing your theory. Please keep reviewing it means a lot to me. Oh, and keep on writing Silver Stars to, damn it!

**NEXT TIME**: The fic really gets started! Stories are told, an old acquaintance returns, bullets fly, blood stains sand, a strange love blossoms, the desert sparkles. Can YOU afford to miss it?


	5. Halo of a Fallen Angel

Chapter 4

Halo of a Fallen Angel

The next day they set off, Meryl was driving, Knives was in the front passenger seat whilst Millie and Vash lounged in the back. As they left the small town that had served as their home, Millie stood up and began to wave at it furiously, bidding good bye to all their friends, tears, real this time, budding in her eyes.

Vash also waved from the passenger seat, yelling his goodbyes to the town in a genial manner. He didn't cry though, his status as somewhat of a pariah had left him with few friends there. Besides him Knives sat slumped in the seat, acting as if no one else existed.

Meryl had said her fair wells before they left, she kept her eyes on the road.

For three days they travelled, Vash providing directions in the trackless desert. It was a strange journey but not an all together unpleasant one. Vash, Millie and Meryl chatted, argued and whined intermittently, as was usual, generally over petty things though Vash's progressive illness hung over them like a cloud. Knives, however, refused to join the banter, speaking to the girls only when necessary. Vash was the only one he casually talked to and then only at night, when he thought the two women were asleep.

On the forth night, over dinner, something new came up.

'I don't see why I can't drive for a bit,' Vash had whined, wrapping his ragged blanket closer around himself, 'I'm tired of sitting in the back doing nothing.'

'Because you're ill,' reminded Meryl, 'and besides, I remember the last time I let you drive, I am not letting you get behind the wheel of a car again!'

'Aw Meryl,' moaned the gunman, 'you're so mean! What about Knives then, why not let him drive?'

'You. Must. Be. Joking.'

'Come on! Knives is a great driver… well, except when it comes to Thomas's… but other than that he's just fine! You haven't heard of him crashing any cars, have you?'

'No, but I've heard he's caused his fair amount of property damage, eh 'The Razor?'

Knives, seemingly tuning into the conversation at the mention of his name, snarled, 'it was hardly my fault.'

'Oh really?'

'Really.'

'What did you do?' asked Millie, who wasn't as up on recent disaster events.

'It's a long story,' sighed the half-Plant, 'but basically I… caused some damage in a backwards little village a few isles away…'

'He blew up half a town,' Meryl translated.

'It wasn't my fault they kept the gunpowder storage room next to the inn! How was I to know that? It was poor planning on their part and besides, I was actually trying to help someone!'

'Oh yes? Did you charge them money afterwards?'

'No! I was actually doing it out of the goodness of my heart.'

'You have one? That's news.'

'You know, some gratitude or at least recognition wouldn't go amiss.'

'Um… I appreciate it,' put in Vash quickly.

'You don't count,' growled back Knives, his eyes not leaving Meryl.

'What? You want me to thank you?' her voice fairly dripped sarcasm, 'alright then, thanks for not wiping out the entire human race, really nice of you that. Don't know how I'll ever repay you. That better?'

'It's a start.'

Meryl opened her mouth to say something else nasty but before she could get the words out she was interrupted by Vash.

The dorky gunman had jumped up, leaping to his feet with incredible speed, his eyes began to gaze into the distance, his posture suddenly tense.

'What is it?' asked Knives, picking up on Vash's worried expression.

'I'm not sure,' muttered Vash, 'I thought I saw…' he paused, his keen eyes narrowing. Knives joined him, trying to scan out the horizon. Suddenly Vash gasped, 'damn!' he swore, 'quick, get in the jeep!'

He led the charge, bounding over sand and the others followed him, not understanding quite what was going on, but knowing to trust his judgement. Soon they were back in the vehicle, Meryl driving recklessly as Vash yelled directions at her, telling her to duck behind dunes and even drive through them at times.

'We've got to loose them,' he yelled, 'shake them off our tail!'

'Who's 'them'?' asked Meryl, her eyes glued ahead of her.

No sooner had she spoken when Vash screamed, 'down!' and a hail of bullets flew overhead. Several punched into the side of the Jeep, though none penetrated the thick walls, thankfully.

'Oh no!' wailed Millie, 'Mr Mark is going to be so upset!'

'Don't worry about that now Millie!' yelled Meryl, twisting the wheel furiously, willing the jeep to go faster.

With a smooth 'click' Vash activated his machine gun, the barrel slipping into his artificial hand easily. He let off a few shots, a scream split the air as one met its target. A man, dressed in worryingly familiar black and yellow, a mask covering his face, rolled down a dune, yelling in pain as he tumbled.

'The Bad Lad Gang!' gasped Meryl, 'I thought they only raided the area round May City!'

'They must have moved on,' grunted Vash, letting off a few more expertly aimed shots, 'run out of trade routs to pillage.'

'The prey population runs out so the predator goes and hunts in new territory,' sneered Knives, reaching for his own weapon, 'how very typical!'

There was another hail of bullets, Knives ducked, almost absently pulling Millie down besides him. Once more the bullets failed to penetrate the shell of the jeep, but there was an ominous hissing sound that filled the passengers full of dread.

'They've shot the tyres!' gasped Meryl.

'We've got to make a stand then,' responded Vash, 'everybody out! We'll use the jeep as cover!'

No one was about to disagree with him so Meryl brought the vehicle to a screeching stop and, as one, everyone rolled out, Vash and Meryl covering the front, Millie and Knives the back, trying to ensure no one snuck round from behind.

There was another barrage of gunfire, bullets bounced off the Jeep, despite herself Millie cried out in shock but her face was set in resolve. Vash frowned, trying desperately to formulate a plan. Then, as it turned out, things were settled for him.

'Vash the Stampede,' a familiar, deep voice boomed out, 'Vash the Stampede! Come out you dog!'

Vash exchanged a quick glance with Knives then, before anyone could stop him, he stood up and walked round the vehicle, his gun still at the ready.

'Hello Brilliant Dynamite Neon,' he said, 'it's been a while.'

'It has, Humanoid Typhoon,' responded the bandit leader, grinning and twirling his LED studded gun in his hand, 'but I've not forgotten you. You've not changed much. What happened to your coat?'

'I left it behind,' said Vash smoothly, 'I didn't need it.'

'Shame, it suited you. I told you, almost five years back, if I ever met you again I'd show you no mercy, I'd kill you. Well, I want a rematch of our little dance from back then, I want to see if you still sparkle. How's that?'

'Fine but for one detail.'

'And that is?'

Vash gave a goofy grin, 'I don't rally wanna,' he whined.

BDN growled and shot his gun.

The bullet came so close to hitting the prone gunman it 'pinged' on his silver ear ring. Despite himself Vash gave a little yelp of shock and from their spot behind the jeep, watching proceedings, Meryl winced and Knives frowned in concern.

'I guess I don't have much of a choice, do I?' sighed Vash, 'well, what's in it for me?'

'Simple,' supplied BDN, 'your life. You win, you live and so do your friends.'

'And if I loose?'

'Then you'll be too dead to care about the state of your companions… but I might spare them, if I feel like it. Depends how much they sparkle.'

BDN's grin was wide and wicked, it made Vash shudder.

'Very well then,' he said grimly, 'are you going to flick a coin?'

'Nah, I don't think so,' responded the raider lazily and fired his gun.

What followed was an amazing display of gunmanship and acrobatics, both contestants using their abilities to the maximum. The girls watched stunned, it occurred to Meryl that, no matter how many times she saw Vash in action, it always felt amazing. That such a clumsy goof could transform into the sleek, dexterous killing machine. Not that he killed people, but that wasn't the point. It served to remind her why the name of Vash the Stampede still chilled the blood of so many of Gun Smoke's populace. If only they could see the other side, the pure, gentle, caring side of Vash… if only they knew _him_.

Knives, for his part, was less impressed than he was worried. Vash wasn't fighting as well as usual, in fact he was fighting positively dreadfully. Several of his shots had gone wide when they should have hit target, he was panting more than he should, his movements were wild, his legs were off balance. In short, his illness was taking it's toll and Knives wasn't sure how long he could last before one of BDN's bullets found its mark.

His worst fears were proved true when, after pulling of a particularly sloppy manoeuvre, Vash skidded in the sand which gave BDN those extra nanoseconds he needed to get a proper target and fire.

A bullet ripped its way through Vash's shoulder, causing him to cry out with agony, he fell onto the sand breathing hard, blood seeping out of the wound.

The blood… that was all Knives could see for a moment, that familiar crimson liquid seeping into the soil, that horrible bullet, the filthy human ammunition scaring his beloved brother. How dare they! How dare they!'

Yelling, Knives jumped up and, before BDN could finish off the prone Vash, he was forced to dodge again as Knives' bullets spun towards him.

In his rage Knives was barely able to aim straight, each bullet missed its target as BDN, with an agility surprising for a man his size, spun through the air, dodging the shots.

'Knives!' Vash yelled, his voice ragged with pain.

The sound of his name brought Knives back to reality, the red haze drained away and he found himself standing out in the open, alone, with a nearly empty gun. He was shivering, the sweat on his skin drying, chilling him.

BDN arose from his defensive crouch, he grinned, 'well, seems like you're run out of bullets Twinkle Toes.'

Knives snarled, 'so have you, or you would have shot me by now.'

'How do you know I wasn't just too busy dodging?'

Knives narrowed his eyes, to be honest he wasn't sure.

'Who are you, anyway?' asked BDN, 'that coat… it's the same as Vash's except for the colour. Are you related to him in some way?'

'I'm his twin brother.'

'Oh, really? How sweet. Do you intend to die with him?'

'I don't intend to die at all.'

'Heh, you put on a good show, I'll give you that much. How about making things more interesting?'

'What do you mean?'

'You shot at me five times, that gun's a six shooter, so you've got on bullet left,' BDN reached to the chamber of his gun and spun it, 'ever played Russian Roulette?' he asked, his pearly white grin widening still further.

'How do I know you've just got any bullets left? Or if you've just got one bullet left?' asked Knives, 'that's a custom made gun, I'm not familiar with it.'

'You don't, that's what makes things interesting.'

Knives frowned, turning matters over in his head, 'alright,' he said, spinning his own chamber, watching it revolve, 'let's do this.'

The two men faced each other, the only sound to be heard was that of chambers spinning. Knives tried to keep track of the chambers, waiting until the time was right until… he put one gloved finger out and stopped the turning. A few seconds later BDN did the same.

From the sides the Bad Lad Gang, the Insurance Girls and Vash watched. Vash was paying special attention, sweat beaded his brow and, from the corner of his eye, Knives saw him slowly raise his artificial arm, still in gun mode, pointing it towards…

'Any last words, kid?' sneered BDN, 'or are you just gonna go out with a bang?'

Knives' finger tightened on his trigger.

BDN followed suit.

For a moment Knives had a flashback to the last time he'd done this, when it had been Vash at the other end of his gun. When it had been enraged, aqua eyes that had glared at him. BDN's eyes were dark and beady but full of passion, rage, life, sparkle. His gun was aimed at Knives' head, and Knives' returned the favour.

At this distance the bullet was sure to kill.

There was nothing but the sound of their breathing and the shifting of sands in the endless desert. Dust rustled around them, the gun was heavy in Knives' hand, his trigger finger felt sore and stiff, it ached to be moved. His eyes were fixed on BDN's own finger, waiting for it to move that tiniest fraction…

Then it happened, the muscles in BDN's bare arm twitched that slight amount, his finger moved inwards and…

Knives somehow got off the first shot.

:Click: went his gun, the cartridge empty.

BDN, no more than nanoseconds behind, pulled his own trigger.

:Click:

Empty.

There was silence again, accentuated only by the soft panting of BDN, Knives' own breathing remained deep and steady.

Eventually BDN grinned, 'not bad,' he chuckled, 'I'd hoped you'd have some of your brother's sparkle, I'm glad you didn't disappoint.'

'Sparkle?' echoed Knives incredulously, 'my brother may sparkle, but I,' he grinned, 'I'm positively _dazzling!' _

For a moment there was silence then a loud, booming sound rang out amongst the dunes.

Brilliant Dynamite Neon was laughing.

'Lower your guns doggies!' he chortled, 'we've got a good one here! I'm not putting this light out!'

There was the sound of guns being slid back into holsters, soft murmurings rose up from amongst the crowd of Band Lad Gang.

'Come out,' called BDN, beckoning to the girls behind the wreck of the Jeep, 'I'm not going to do anything, not now.'

'You mean it?' asked Vash, still clutching his wound.

'I'm a man of my word, ain't I?' said BDN.

Vash nodded and staggered to his feet, in no time Meryl and Millie were besides him, helping him stand.

BDN, meanwhile, turned to Knives, 'you've proved yourself,' he said, 'I _like_ you.'

'I hope that means you'll let us live?' said Knives dryly.

'Of course, but you won't get far in that,' BDN jerked a thick thumb towards the bullet ridden jeep, 'how about we give you a lift to your destination?'

Knives narrowed his eyes, scrutinising BDN but before he could respond to his offer Vash did it for him, 'sure!' he said, his voice high with false happiness again, 'that'd be just dandy!'

'Excellent, we'll take you wherever you want to go tomorrow. But first to our camp, there's twenty bottles of Wild Turkey with our names written all over them, eh Twinkle Toes?'

BDN leaned towards Knives, casually nudging him in the ribs.

'Don't call me that,' grunted Knives, massaging his now bruised side. BDN only laughed harder.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The Bad Lad Gang, being in a somewhat nomadic group, had no 'solid' camp, there weren't any abandoned buildings or cliff top caves for them to settle in. Instead they found a hidden spot, put up hundreds of tents, lit fires and settled down to some hard core banditry until the trade routs ran dry.

Currently the majority of the group, besides a few on sentry duty, were crowded round the central camp fire, laughing, talking, eating and (above all) drinking.

Mille and Meryl sat close together, neither looking to happy about the situation, none of the boys had made a move yet but both girls remained alert, Millie especially looked a little panicked. Meryl made sure that she didn't touch any whisky.

Vash, on the other hand, appeared to be having a grand time. He was quaffing down liquor at a tremendous rate partly, Meryl suspected, to dim the pain of his bullet wound. He'd refused to let them treat it, instead settling for a quick bandage. From what she'd noticed the bullet had gone right through, missing any vital organs and the wound looked clean but it concerned her never the less. He could hardly afford to be injured in his condition, much less infected.

'Ill huh?' grunted BDN, slugging back more whisky, he had one arm easily drooped about a rather annoyed looking Knives (something which amused Meryl endlessly,) 'that explains why I got him. Did I tell you 'bout that Sand Steamer incident? When the idiot went doing all those acrobatics with that bullet wound in his gut?'

'Yes,' drawled Knives, despair evident in his voice, 'three times.'

'Yeah well, he must be pretty sick,' continued BDN, 'to be taken down that easily.'

'He needs medical attention soon,' said Meryl, 'we're taking him to Sky City, he has friends there.'

'You talking about the city that fell from the sky a couple of years back? The one near New Orleans?' Meryl nodded, 'no problem, we can take you to the outskirts of it tomorrow morning. It's only a few hours drive away.'

'Can't you take us there now? The sooner we get there the better. Mr Vash may not look it, but he is very ill.'

BDN frowned, 'we don't like crossing that stretch at night,' he said.

'Why ever not?'

Before BDN could reply one of his lackeys did it for him, 'spooks,' a Bad Land boy whispered dramatically, 'ain't no one willin' to travel those sands when the Haints are about.'

'Spooks!' echoed Millie, 'how scary!'

'Don't be silly Mille,' admonished Meryl, 'that's just a load of irrational nonsense, it's probably just dust clouds or something. Bandits are notoriously superstitious.'

'All well and good for you to say,' responded the Bad Land Boy, 'but I'd like to see you move out from your nice, cosy little home and face what we face. I been livin' out in the desert for a year now, an' already I seen twenty six of me mates die. We see a lot of strange stuff out here, lady, an' maybe some of it is dust or mirages, an' maybe some of it ain't. I heard of enough of the lads wanderin' out in the desert an' simply not comin' back the next day, investigatin' weird happenings. So, when we starts hearin' strange noises, we don't go riskin' our necks. Men have died for less.'

Meryl snorted derisively and crossed her arms over her chest. She decided to drop the issue, it wasn't as if she'd be changing the man's mind any time soon. She'd just have to wait until tomorrow and hope the delay didn't effect Vash too badly.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Knives was not enjoying himself.

He'd been stuck next to BDN all evening, the bandit leader had casually drooped his arm round Knives' shoulders, preventing him from moving and, to Knives' further chagrin, insisted upon drinking himself into oblivion.

As the evening wore on things only got worse, BDN would occasionally squeeze Knives closer to him, laugh and retell bad joke after bad joke in an obvious attempt to become friendlier.

'Y'know,' he slurred, 'you'd make a great Bad Lad, I'd have you in the gang any day of the week!' he drunkenly swung his hand around to emphasize his words, 'you re-really sparkle, really shine! How's about it? You an' me, we'd set the desert alight!'

'Seems like the desert's bright enough as it is, to me,' remarked Knives, trying to lean as far away from BDN as he could without seeming rude. He was growing more and more uncomfortable with the way the bandit leader was talking, the way his eyes kept lingering on him.

'Ah,' said BDN, emptying his bottle of Wild Turkey and flinging it to the side where it exploded on the fire. His eyes seemed fixed on the blaze then, glued upon the flickering flames as if they held some answer, 'but tha' different, not real sparkle. Come on, it'd be fun, better than jus' dyin' alone in some dark alley! People like us, we gotta shine an' glitter, gotta fill the world up with all the lights we can, 'cos we're like flames, y' know? We're gonna all flicker out eventually…'

As BDN talked his voice lowered until his last words were spoken with an almost wistful tone, quite different to his usual bragging.

Knives found himself suddenly enraptured by this strange, bulky man, fascinated by what he meant, who he was…

'I won't flicker out,' he heard himself say.

BDN turned his gaze away from the fire and looked hard at Knives. His brown eyes, previously so tough and glittering suddenly seemed different… deeper, sadder, almost gentle.

Knives found himself uncomfortably aware of how close the Bandit Leader was to him, he could smell the whisky on his breath, feel the warmth of his skin. BDN opened his mouth to say something but, before he could get anything out, he gagged.

He let go of the confused Knives and, clutching his mouth, dashed away, undoubtedly to be sick in the sand dunes.

For a moment Knives sat there, stunned. Then, as soon as he'd gathered his wits, he shook himself out of the daze and jumped up, taking the opportunity to escape the ring of rejoicing bandits whilst he still could.

He moved passed the Bad Land Boys and rushed into the darkness. Being careful not to move too far away from the camp, lest he was needed, he climbed a near by hill and sat down to watch the stars and think.

A little while later he heard footsteps behind him, he turned and saw Vash, trudging across the dust towards him, one arm wrapped about the blood stained bandages across his shoulder. He seemed to have shaken off the semi-drunken stupor he was in before, Knives couldn't help but wonder if he'd ever entered it.

'Hi Knives,' he greeted, sitting in the sand besides him, 'you OK? You left in a bit of a hurry.'

Knives shrugged, 'you know how I am amongst humans, especially large crowds, it took me a while escape Brilliant Dynamite Neon.'

'Mmm,' responded Vash, 'he's an interesting guy, isn't he?'

'Living proof of what I said before, humans are incomprehensible.'

'But you like him, right?'

'I… suppose so, he's interesting.'

Vash sniggered, Knives decided he really didn't like the tone of that, 'what is it?' he demanded roughly.

'Nothing Knives,' Vash said, still grinning dirtily, 'I'm just glad you've found someone, that's all…'

'Excuse me?'

'Oh come on, I saw the way you two were snuggling!'

'S-snuggling?' Knives eyes were as wide as saucers now, quite a comical sight from the usually composed man.

'Well yeah, it's obvious he likes you. And you like him, right?'

'What? No! NO!'

Vash blinked, seemingly shocked by Knives vehement response, 'but I thought you liked men?'

'Where the hell did you get that idea?'

'Well, you did hang out with Legato… and just before we set off you said you weren't interested in girls so…'

'That doesn't mean I'm interested on men! I'm… I'm just not interested in humans, that's all!'

'Really?' asked Vash.

'Really.'

'Oh…' then, 'that's a shame, you're missing out on a lot of fun.'

'With girls or with- no, wait, I really don't want to know.'

Vash grinned, 'hey, it's not my fault I was the twin who got the stunning looks.'

'You? Looks?'

'Aw, could you resist these eyes?' Vash batted his eyelids dramatically.

'Stop that, it's disturbing!'

Vash exploded into peels of laughter, his high pitched giggles ringing out into the air. Knives found himself chuckling along, unable to resist sharing his brother's mirth.

They fell back on the sand together, still laughing and for a moment things were as they had been, as they should be, two twin brothers laughing, joyful, happy.

Then, 'Knives?'

'Yes Vash?'

'Thanks… for before.'

'You're not upset… that I tried to shoot Dynamite Neon?'

'Kinda… you were mad, but when you calmed down it was good. You could have taken him out in that Russian Roulette routine, after all. You're perfectly able to follow the spin of a gun barrel.'

'Vash…'

'Mmm?'

'The bullet… was in the second cartridge, I was going use it if he shot me. I didn't know he'd keep his word, after all.'

Vash said nothing, his eyes were fixed upon he stars above.

'Vash…'

'I'm listening.'

'I saw where your gun was pointing… it was pointing at me, wasn't it? Would you… if I had killed him… would you really…?'

'I would… I'm sorry.'

'Why?'

'Because the year's not over yet. You promised me that you wouldn't kill anyone for a year, you swore that to me, Knives. If you betray that oath then how do I know you won't go back on any promise you give me? How could I trust you at all?'

There was a further silence, after a moment Vash continued, 'I… I still believe in love and peace, I still believe that no one has the right to take the life of another and I still love you, Knives, as much as I can love anyone. But… I will not repeat the mistakes of the past. I won't let hundreds of innocents die because of these things. I'm sorry.'

Knives sighed, his breath turning to steam in the cold night air, 'damn,' he whispered, 'must it always be like this between us?'

'You started it,' said Vash, and there was no anger or recrimination in his tone, just a simple statement.

'Yeah,' said Knives, his eyes locked onto the star filled sky above, 'I suppose I did at that.'

NEXT TIME: The group finally reach Sky City, but don't quite get the reception they hoped for…

AND REMEMBER: Check out my LJ for your Reader Replies! Just go to my profile and click on the website. But PLEASE, REVIEW THIS CHAPTER HERE AT FFN!

And remember, the more reviews I get, the faster I post!


	6. At The Gates of Eden

Chapter 5

At The Gates of Eden

They were late leaving the camp the next day due to the hangovers that BDN and half his men were suffering from. Vash also tended a rather sore head, but to his credit he did not whine about it as much as usual.

They all piled into several large but rather rickety vehicles, Knives being sure to sit as far away from BDN as possible, and drove off across the desert. Eventually, in the distance, the strange, almost upside-down structure of Sky City came into view. As soon as they could see its massive form upon the horizon the vehicles stopped and they were ushered out.

'This is as far as we're gonna take you,' grunted BDN, 'we aren't too well liked in that city, as you can imagine.' He studied the group hard, as if considering something, 'I don't know what family you're from,' he said, addressing Vash and Knives, 'but they must have been damn good, because you shine out like nothing I've ever seen. From now on consider yourselves Unofficial Bad Lads. You've got my favour, feel free to cross my territory any time, I promise that while I'm chief you and your friends will be safe from us. So long as you don't cross us, that is. That happens and we take you down, got it?'

'Thanks,' said Vash, grinning, Knives just nodded.

With this BDN climbed back into his vehicle, started the engine and rode off into the desert. Soon he and all the Bad Land Boys were lost from sight.

'Incomprehensible,' murmured Knives under his breath, Vash's grin simply widened.

'Well,' he said at last, 'we'd best be going, it's a three hour walk to Sky City.'

'Wait a minute,' protested Meryl, reaching into her bag and drawing out several rolls of clean bandages, 'you're not moving from this spot until I've re-bandaged your wound!'

'Aw come on Meryl,' protested Vash, his voice taking on a whiny tone, 'I'm fine! And we'll be at Sky City in no time, they'll be much better at patching me up!'

'You know the dangers of infection out here Vash,' replied Meryl, stretching the bandaging in an almost threatening manner, 'the last thing we need is infection to go along with that illness. Take your shirt off now and don't whinge.'

'But Meryl I… um…' Vash began to blush, 'can't Knives do it?' he said, lamely.

'Quit whining,' Meryl growled, 'it's not as if we haven't seen you without your shirt plenty of times before.'

'Ma'am is right,' agreed Millie happily, 'I remember when we were looking after you, after Legato… we saw you naked all the time!'

Her words only made Vash turn an even deeper red and be began to slowly move backwards, a panicked look upon his face.

'Oh please!' sighed Meryl, 'stop being such a baby! Take off that shirt and allow me to dress your wound before I take matters into my own hands!'

'No way! Knives?' Vash looked desperately towards his brother who, after a seconds worth of consideration, shrugged and gave a 'don't get me involved in this,' kind of expression.

'Millie?' growled Meryl.

'Yes Ma'am?'

'The patient isn't being cooperative. You know what to do.'

'Yes Ma'am!'

'No!' yelled Vash, making one last backwards dash before Millie pounced on him. There was a moment of struggle as the large woman tried, and succeeded, to pin down the gangly gunslinger.

'Knives!' yelled Vash desperately, limbs flailing, but his brother only smiled sartorially and watched the show.

Meryl slowly advanced, a roll of bandages held firmly in her hands, a look of determination in her eyes.

'Help!' shrieked Vash, 'help! Knives, I'm your brother, how could you be so cold! Help me! I'm being stripped against my will! Rape! Rape!'

'You're really over reacting about this,' said Meryl, 'it's only your shirt, now shut up or I'll put this,' she waved the roll of bandages, 'in your mouth.'

Vash clamped his jaw shut, though he continued to whimper and struggle.

Meryl bent down and began to undo the shirt buttons, popping one after another. As she did so her eyes slowly widened and Vash's struggles ceased, now she had seen, he had no reason to continue.

The short insurance girl's large grey eyes gazed in shocked wonder at his chest. His pail skin was now… covered in feathers. Soft, downy white feathers clung to his flesh, hiding his scars, they seemed to glow and shine in the suns light.

'What are they?' Meryl whispered, awe struck.

'They look like Plant Angel feathers,' said Millie, also spotting them, 'I saw one once, when I was very young…'

'That's because they are,' said Vash, softly, 'for some reason this… disease is activating my Plant side. I don't know how or why.'

'Is that why you didn't want us to take off your shirt? To hide this from us?' Meryl's voice was hard and stern.

'Yes,' replied Vash, sadly.

'Idiot,' said Meryl briskly, as she started to bandage his bullet wound, 'you should have told us, we're big girls, we could have helped more and…'

There was a pause, Vash thought he saw something glisten in Meryl's eye, 'and…' the shorter woman continued, 'I thought you trusted us.'

Vash opened his mouth to say something but, for some reason, the only words he could say were, 'I'm sorry.'

Eventually the short woman finished bandaging the wound. She stood up, 'come on,' she said, 'let's get moving, the sooner we're at Sky City the better.'

………………………………………………………………………………………

The journey which should have taken three hours took five because Vash had to constantly stop and rest. The disease was wearing on him worse than ever and no one, not even Knives, had ever seen him this weak before.

Unusually, however, he didn't whine or complain that much, something for which Meryl was very grateful. She was well aware of how much of Vash's 'complaints,' existed to put other at ease or push them away, he was perfectly capable of handling pain and exhaustion in reality. Apart from the inherent irritation at putting up with such pathetic whinging, to hear him try to put on a façade, any façade, to hide his condition more would have been too much. She felt a dreadful hollowness in her chest as it was, like someone had sucked all her internal organs out. Her mind, always veering towards the logical had made some very simple and very horrible calculations.

If the illness was somehow making Vash's Plant side come out, effecting his Plant abilities, causing him to lose control, then there was a chance it could effect his Angel Arm. And if that was activated again, even at low levels, then…

Meryl squeezed her eyes shut, seeing the globe of energy that decimated Augusta. She couldn't let that happen again, not as a good Insurance Agent, not as decent human being. But… what if that meant… what if to stop Vash she would have to…

No; she could never hurt him, surely. Yet, if that was the only way, if it became a choice… what would she do? What could she do?

Her disturbing musings were interrupted by Millie, 'look Ma'am' she trilled, 'there is someone up ahead!'

Sure enough, looking up, Meryl saw a man dressed in well worn, but somewhat strange, clothing. She recognised it as the style the people of Sky City tended to wear, though it looked a lot more ragged than the stuff she'd seen last time she'd visited, shortly after the city had fallen from the sky.

Their visit then had been a short as they'd not stuck around long, though Vash had been a mess from grieving about that man… what was his name now? Bruce? Brian? Something like that anyway. At the time Vash had been too concerned with causing more trouble for them, wanting to get away as fast as possible before any more of the Gung Ho Guns followed him and wrecked still more destruction upon his home.

The man they were facing now held some sort of plough and was scratching in the sand, preparing it for planting. Even Meryl, who was hardly an expert on the subject, knew that there was little chance of it working. Most GunSmoke soil had to be specially prepared and watered before the hardiest of weed would even think about growing there.

'Hello,' she called to him, 'I'm Meryl Strife and…'

She didn't continue for she realized that grubby man's attention was not upon her or Millie, instead he was staring fixedly at Vash and Knives, Vash in particular. His jaw hung open and his eyes were as wide as moons.

'Um,' said Vash nervously, putting on his widest grin, 'hi! Uh… you're a McMillan? Right? I'd know that nose anywhere… say, do you know Jane or Marty? I-'

He didn't get any further for at that moment the man dropped his plough, gave a shrill scream and ran off, towards the city.

'Well,' commented Millie, watching the retreating dust ball, 'that wasn't very friendly.'

Vash sighed deeply and gave a resigned shrug, 'I suppose I should have expected this,' he murmured, 'the last time I was here…'

'Still, you can't be blamed for that,' said Millie, 'they should be happy that you're back, they are your family after all. It's mean of them to do that.'

Vash opened his mouth, as if he was going to say something, then shut it again, settling for another shrug.

'Well,' he said at last, 'let's get this over with, perhaps it won't be so bad…'

………………………………………………………………………………………….

They didn't have to wait long, they'd hardly made much distance towards the city before several members of the populace decided to come to them.

About five trucks came speeding across the desert and, as they approached, it became evident they were stuffed full of people, all with various items of weaponry. Vash's heart sunk further down into his chest, this was most certainly not a good sign.

The trucks stopped a few meters away, sending up massive sprays of dust. Various men jumped out and the one who appeared to be their leader, a tallish man with short, jet black hair(1), came striding towards them. His brow was set into a deep frown and he kept a gun strung across his back in addition to the revolver currently dangling from his hand.

'Mr Vash?' he stated as much as asked.

'Yes,' replied Vash, doing his utmost to be friendly, 'um… it's nice to be home, who are you? I don't think I've seen your face before...'

The man seemed to ignore his question, 'who are these?' he demanded rudely.

'This is Meryl Strife, Millie Thomson and…' Vash hesitated, he'd not thought about this part…

'Eriks,' put in Knives swiftly, 'Ericks… ah…' now it was evident he was struggling for a second name, as even his adopted moniker of 'Bluesummers,' would be known and feared here, 'Wolfwood,' he settled for at last. Vash's heart, which had previously been residing somewhere in the bottom of his stomach, nosed dived into the soles of his feet. Of all the names to choose…

'Ericks Wolfwood, eh?' murmured the man, his dark eyes narrowing, 'well,' he continued, 'whoever you are, please, all of you, turn back. You are not welcome here.'

'What?' asked Vash, trying to keep his voice level. He'd expected difficulties, true, but he'd thought that he, at least, would be allowed in, or certainly be allowed to visit the Doctor, 'but it's me! Vash!'

'I know full well who you are,' snapped back the man, 'we all do, how couldn't after what you did?'

'He didn't do anything,' said Knives, his voice cool but ridged with unspoken anger, 'it was the actions of the Gung Ho Guns which caused your city to fall from the sky.'

'I know that,' growled the man, 'I was there! Vash might not have caused the destruction directly, but it was he which attracted those demons here, he was the ultimate catalyst for the incident. Who do you bring with you now, Vash?' he sneered, turning towards the gunslinger, 'what rabid dogs now follow your trail? Will they be let loose on our women and children also? What is your story this time, why have you come crawling back to us? Lost another limb?'

Knives actually growled at these words and took a step forward but he was stopped by Vash's out stretched arm.

'Please,' said Millie, before Vash could say any words of his own, 'please let Mr Vash in, he might not look it right now, but he's very sick!'

The man laughed harshly, 'what did I tell you?' he cried, addressing the men behind him, 'it's as before, he only returns to us when he wants something, and there's always hell snapping at his heels!'

'That's mean!' protested Millie sharply, 'what kind of family are you, if you won't look after each other!'

The man opened his mouth as if to say something then shut it, he turned away, for the first time looking vaguely guilty.

'Sir,' said Meryl, 'if you won't let Vash in… perhaps the Doctor could come out… or perhaps one of us could enter? If I came in by myself I might be able to describe Vash's symptoms to this Doctor and-…'

'No!' said the man, snapping out of whatever compassion he'd felt, 'we've had enough of outsiders trying to steal our technology and take advantage of our good will. No more! Now return to the desert, turn back! You won't get any help here!'

'Don't you get it you imbecile,' rasped Knives, his fists clenching, 'he's sick! He needs you help!'

'Step down,' growled the man, raising his gun threateningly, 'I don't care if he's bleeding to death on the door step, he's not coming back in!'

'You stupid, microscopic, diseased vermin of-'

'Back off now,' the dark man was practically yelling and there was a clatter of clicking as the other armed men raised their guns, 'or we'll fill you full of bullets!'

'I'd like to see you try,' Knives hissed, his hand moving towards his own gun.

'No!' cried Vash desperately, hoping to somehow defuse the situation. As it happened he needn't have bothered.

There was a soft humming above them all and a shadow past over the sun. They looked up to see an amazing contraption, a silvery, flying disk. And standing calmly upon it was a small, shrivelled, dark skinned man leaning upon a cane. It was the Doctor.

'Now now,' he called in a friendly, if somewhat high pitched voice, 'there is no need for violence or threats, what happened to manners there? Eh?' he turned towards the only other passenger on the disk, a middle aged woman who was working the controls, 'bring us down Lana,' he instructed her and the disk slowly descended until it landed softly in the sand.

The old man stepped off the disk and hobbled towards them, a gentle smile creasing his face. Vash found himself grinning also, the sight of this man soothing his soul beyond measure.

There were very, very few people alive upon the face of GunSmoke whom he knew, and who knew him, as well as The Doctor. Knives was one and so was Meryl and Millie at times, but The Doctor was his oldest friend.

One of the only humans to have been part of some of the Genetic Experiments that took place upon earth, the Doctor (who's true name was known by only a few and very rarely used,) was even older than Vash himself! (2) He had been instrumental to Vash's acceptance and growth within human Sky City community and though Vash had never had any sort of older male relative, he always found himself considering the Doctor as some sort of kindly uncle. A father figure even, at times.

Vash grinned, 'Doctor!' he said.

'Hello Vash,' replied the Doctor kindly, 'it's good to see you back so soon. For a while I thought it might be another five years,' Vash blushed with embarrassment and guilt over this mild jibe, 'but anyway,' continued the Doctor, 'I'm glad to see you home at last. Rex, men, please put away your guns, you hardly need them.'

'Don't we?' growled the dark haired man, who was obviously the one known as Rex, 'You remember what happened last time! You remember what he brought with him! You remember the havoc, the chaos, the destruction! Don't tell me you've forgotten!'

'No Rex,' said the Doctor smoothly, 'of course not, I never will. I also remember a man, your great grandfather, Karl… what was it he was convicted for now… ah yes. Murder, wasn't it? Though he claimed it was in self defence. And, looking back, I recall how many people said he should be put to death for this crime. But one young man, a tall, spiky, blond haired youth, said that wasn't right, pleaded for mercy. The court gave him that mercy so, twenty years later, that man was let free from confinement and rehabilitation and allowed to start a family. That's what _I_ remember, Rex, perhaps you should recall it too.'

Rex had once again cast his eyes down, his gun drooped in his hand, 'I don't know,' he muttered, 'I just… I don't want to see a repeat of what happened before… I couldn't stand that…'

'Of course not,' soothed the Doctor, patting his arm with one withered hand, 'but don't worry, that will not happen, I'm sure we've all learned the mistakes of our past.'

He did not look at Rex as he spoke these words but, instead, towards Vash and the others and, Vash noticed with some alarm, his eyes were fixed especially on Knives. Vash had a feeling that the false name would not stand long, if at all, under the Doctor's shrewd scrutiny.

'So,' he said, smiling that friendly but inscrutable smile of his, 'who are these nice young people you've brought with you this time, Vash? And what happened to that dark priest?'

Vash looked away, the words stuck in his throat… Wolfwood…

The Doctor sighed, reading his expression, 'I see… that's how it is. I guessed it would end like that, he who lives by the gun…' another deep sigh, 'I'm sorry for your loss, Vash. But tell me, who are these new friends of yours? They look vaguely familiar I must confess, I think I met the two lovely ladies just before you left, correct?'

Both Meryl and Millie blushed at being referred to as lovely ladies, Vash introduced them quickly and the Doctor nodded and smiled at both.

'And he?' he asked, gesturing towards Knives who was standing rather stiffly, his face neutral.

The Doctor looked towards Vash as he spoke and the gunman felt those kind, brown eyes rake his soul. The pseudonym of Eriks Wolfwood wouldn't last a second against the sharp Doctor and, besides, he could not lie to him.

'This…' he took a steadying breath, 'this is Millions Knives Bluesummers, my brother.'

A lot of things happened at once then. Knives' head eyes focussed on Vash, glaring at him angrily. Screams and shouts exploded into the air, the small band of men around them went berserk. Many simply ran away shrieking, dropping their guns onto the dust and fleeing as fast as they could. Some even fainted, or else fell down onto their knees, shaking and sobbing with fear. Those that remained, however, once more drew out their guns and started firing wildly. Rex was amongst these and would have been shot down himself, by his own men, had not Vash the presence of mind to swing his leg out, tripping him up and saving him from a badly aimed bullet to the head.

He, meanwhile, started firing off his own gun, trying to disarm their hysterical attackers, Meryl and Millie were doing similar but Knives, whilst he had drawn his gun, had yet to fire a shot. He had the presence of mind to know that any sign of real aggression from him would not help the situation at all.

Indeed, the only person who had been relatively unfazed by events was the Doctor who stood calmly amidst the pandemonium, smiling as bullets whistled past and over him.

Then he frowned slightly as one stray missile punched a neat, round hole in his hat. The Doctor very rarely frowned and Vash's blood ran cold, this was not a good thing.

The small old man opened his arms outwards and in a loud, deep and quite different voice from his usual tones, he yelled, 'stop!'

It was as if the voice of god had spoken for all the men, without exception, ceased firing, though their guns remained out and at the ready.

The Doctor took a deep breath and, slowly, hobbled towards Knives who raised himself from his defensive crouch and put his gun back into its holster. He looked down upon the small man, as if trying to match his gaze.

'I thought I knew you from somewhere,' said the Doctor, smoothly, 'it was about twenty seven… twenty eight years ago, as I recall… you were a young technician… or you claimed you were though I thought, at the time, how odd it was I'd never met you. I have a good memory for faces, usually. That was you, wasn't it?'

Knives frowned slightly, obviously searching his own memory, 'yes,' he said at last, 'it was a few months before the July Incident. I was trailing Vash, trying to find where he was, what he was doing and so forth. I discovered Sky city, made up a fake identity and did some investigating.'

Vash's eyes widened, he'd not known about that… he must have been planet side when it happened.

'As I recall,' continued the Doctor conversationally, 'there were several murders at the time… your work?'

'Most probably. I'm… sorry to say I find it hard to keep track.'

The Doctor nodded and gave a tiny smile, 'well then, do you intend to repeat the experience? Do you still wish to destroy all of humanity?'

'No.'

The Doctor's expression remained fixed, he turned towards Vash, 'is what he says true? Has he changed at last?'

'I think… yes, yes he has,' replied Vash, wishing he sounded more certain, 'he has changed and he won't kill anyone, he promised me.'

'How do you know he won't break that promise?'

Vash blinked, he'd not expected this, not from the Doctor. He was well aware that he was somewhat naive at times, but he'd thought that his word would be good enough. Did this mean that not even the Doctor trusted him any more? He felt a horrible, sinking sensation in his chest… it wasn't as if he didn't have good reason to distrust him, he had been almost directly responsible for a lot of death and destruction…

The Doctor turned back towards Knives, 'this man,' he continued, 'is a demon, he's caused great sorrow and death, not just towards this community but towards many, many people on Gunsmoke. How am I to believe that you are to be trusted?' the latter was directed and Knives, who stood motionless.

'I understand,' he said at length, 'that you don't want me in Sky City. I respect that, but will you at least let my brother in? He's ill and requires help and…' there was a pause, 'and,' Knives continued, 'I think you are he only ones who can give him that help.'

There was a pregnant pause and then, slowly, the Doctor's smile widened.

'Right then,' he said, a little briskly, 'we'd best be getting off to Sky City, the sooner we can diagnose this illness or ailment the better. Everyone aboard the hover disk, I'm sure our young lads are perfectly capable of making their own way back.'

Rex, still spitting sand from when Vash had tripped him up, looked stunned, 'but sir…' he gasped. The Doctor ignored him.

He beckoned to them as he hobbled back to the disk, Vash, Meryl and Millie followed him but Knives stayed behind. He hitched his travelling sack upon his shoulder and made to start walking away, but was stopped by the Doctor's shrill voice.

'Come on Mr Knives,' he called, 'hurry up!'

'But-' said Knives, for once sounding somewhat astounded, 'you'll allow me in your city?'

'Well is there anyone else around here called Knives? If there is I'd like to hear about it.'

'Um… no,' said Knives, quickly recovering himself and jogging quickly over to the disk. The middle aged woman driving it looked less than happy about his presence but worked the controls anyway.

As the disk spun up into the air Vash grinned, it was good to be home.

(1) Not that it's at all relevant to the story, but for some reason I imagined this guy looking pretty much like Roy Mustang out of Full Metal Alchemist. He's so cute!

(2) Yes, I have cannon to back me up to some extent. If you look in the flash-backs in the final episode the doctor seems to be in all of them which means he must be VERY old. Why this is I'm not sure, so my explanation might sound hair brained, sorry… it's not my fault!

NOTES: For responses your Reader Replies please check out my LJ, linked via my profile (just click on web-page.) but REMEMBER leave you reviews HERE! The more reviews I get, the sooner I update!

NEXT TIME: Vash is examined, the girls look after him, Knives even has dinner with Jessica. What could go wrong? No… seriously… what could go wrong?


	7. Devil's Advocate

Chapter 6

Devil's Advocate 

Though Vash and Knives seemed unbothered to the amazing architecture and technology of Sky City, Millie and Meryl were thunderstruck. They openly gawped at their surroundings as the Doctor led them trough the twisting grey corridors and through doors which opened by themselves.

'How have things been?' asked Vash.

'Not too bad,' replied the Doctor evenly. 'We've settled down quite acceptably I think. There have been some raids and attempts to steal both our equipment and data, but we've held out well enough. We've opened a few trading routes, exchanging knowledge for food and so forth. There have been losses, of course, but it could have been much worse. We're recovering and adapting remarkably all things considered.'

Vash nodded. 'But things haven't been easy, right?'

The Doctor sighed as yet another door slid open before them, this time revealing a large, white, pristine room filled with various strange implements, all different shapes and sizes. Several men and women bustled around it, all dressed in white robes or shirts.

'No,' he said, 'not all together easy. There is a lot of anger and malcontent, but then change is never easy. We always remember what we had, saying what has gone before was better… Ah, here we are at the Medical Centre.'

He spread his arms out wide, indicating the large room they'd just entered. 'We'll start our examination now Vash, if that is alright by you?'

'Sure,' said Vash, moving to sit on one of the beds.

'Right, first we'll require various samples, you know the usual… blood, saliva, urine, faeces and semen. Then we'll move onto deeper examination…'

As he spoke Vash turned slowly red and winced slightly. He'd obviously forgotten this part of the medical attention. His embarrassment was only increased when, from the back Millie piped up, 'how are you going to get the-'

'Never mind that Millie!' interrupted Meryl quickly, saving Vash from death by sheer mortification. 'What do you want us to do, sir?'

The Doctor turned to them, still smiling kindly. 'I honestly don't think there's much any of you can do right now, not until the tests on Vash are complete. Perhaps you should go to your quarters?'

'We have quarters?' asked Meryl, curious.

'Oh yes, as soon as I heard you were coming I arranged several room in the east section of the city to be prepared for you. They're somewhat remote but I thought it best if… ah… you were kept away from certain members of the populace.' His eyes flickered almost imperceptibly towards Knives. 'You saw how some of our citizens greeted you.'

Vash opened his mouth to say something but he was interrupted by the loud squeal of 'Vash!'

The others dived out of the way as a smallish, brown haired girl… no, woman, dashed passed them towards the gunslinger.

Vash laughed and nearly overbalanced as the girl pounced on him, hugging him tightly, her large green eyes filling with tears of happiness.

'Vash!' she crooned, 'it's so good to see you!'

Vash chuckled a little and held her tight though, Meryl realized, there was some sadness in his eyes. 'Hello Jessica,' he said, 'how have you been?'

'Fine,' trilled back Jessica, 'even better now you're here! What happened to you? Have you come back to stay this time? Where is your coat? What happened to that nice priest man?'

Multiple emotions flickered beneath Vash's eyes, joy, worry, concern, fear, sadness, all hidden by that strange, neutral smile of his.

'It's all kinda complicated,' he said, hugging her close. 'But I think I'll be here for a while, so there's plenty of time to explain.'

Jessica looked overjoyed at this news. 'What about these people?' she asked. Releasing him from her hug and turning to the other three. 'Are these your friends? Will they be staying here too? Not many people like outsiders, Vash…'

The outlaw licked his lips nervously, once again anxious about making introductions. 'Umm,' he began, 'this is Millie and Meryl and… hum, Knives.' The last name was mumbled under his breath, but Jessica obviously heard it. Instead of looking terrified or outraged, however, her pretty face suddenly gained a sort of hardness.

'Oh,' she said, 'I… heard that you were here but I didn't believe…' She stared straight at Knives. 'I hope… I hope you've changed. You're not going to hurt anyone, right?'

'I won't,' said Knives calmly, 'I'm only here to make sure Vash gets better.'

Jessica looked briefly towards the Doctor, who nodded. She turned back to Knives. 'Alright then,' she said, 'if Vash trusts you… I will to.'

Vash smiled warmly as she said these words and the Doctor, if at all possible, seemed happier and more content than ever.

'Thank you Jessica,' he said in that high, rattling old voice of his. 'That's very forgiving of you. I don't suppose you'd be kind enough to show our guests to their quarters? Vash will be staying here in the Medical centre for a while, but the others need showing to the rooms we've prepared for them. They're in the east sector.'

'Alright sir,' said Jessica. 'Come on, and keep your guns near by, there are a lot of people aren't very happy to see you.'

'We'll be back soon,' promised Meryl solemnly.

Vash nodded and waved to them as they departed down the twisting corridors, Jessica leading the way.

Knives couldn't help but notice that the corridors were eerily silent as they walked down them. There wasn't a man, woman or child to be seen. Though, when he listened very carefully he could hear whispered mutterings from behind the iron sliding doors. This didn't mean that their short journey was peaceful, however.

Half way there a boy of no more than twelve dashed out of his quarters and threw something at the small group. Knives stepped aside as the rotten tomato hit the floor besides him. It wasn't the only object he dodged though, as several other people, mostly the younger generation, dashed quickly out of their homes and began to throw things at him. Decomposing food mostly but sometimes more unpleasant objects. He managed to dodge them all but nearly got a face full when a man jumped out from around a corner, gun in hand, and attempted to shoot Knives. He spun away, rotting food spattering his skin and coat. The bullet whistled by harmlessly and the hostile man had his gun shot out of his hand by Meryl. He whimpered and ran, dropping his own fire arm. At the sight of weaponry the food throwers also escaped, forgetting their target and taking refuge in their rooms.

'I told you not many people would be happy to see you,' said Jessica, brushing some rotting slime off her trousers. 'I suppose we'd best hurry to your quarters, if no one is hurt?'

No one was, but it was plain from the look on Knives' face that he was absolutely furious with the situation, he managed to keep his temper in check though.

Eventually they came to the east section, and Jessica showed them into their quarters. In actual fact it wasn't four living spaces but one living space built for a family of four. It had a large dining area, a spacious central room and several small bedrooms.

'Well,' said Jessica, 'now that you know where this place, I'm going to fix you up some food.'

'Good idea,' agreed Meryl, 'I'll help. Perhaps we can send some of it up to Vash. He'll probably be whining for doughnuts by now. Millie, you unpack our stuff. Knives… I'd have a wash if I were you, that garbage smells dreadful!'

'Really,' muttered Knives sourly under his breath, 'I hadn't noticed. I've only got the stuff dripping off me!'

Meryl seemed either not to not hear him or simply not to care. She turned on her heel and left with Jessica who, for some reason, didn't look entirely happy with her company.

'Well now, Mr Knives,' said Millie, 'we'd best be unpacking, hadn't we?'

Knives shrugged but didn't make a move. He just stood there, glowering as the tall woman began to bustling round the room, examining the various strange objects and putting their belongings away.

Millie was a kind woman and she hated to see anyone mad or upset, even those few people she didn't really like all that much. The sight of Knives sulking, his arms wrapped around himself and his lower lip jutting out almost childishly stirred something in hear large heart.

'Mr Knives?' she asked sweetly, 'what's wrong?'

Knives sighed, 'I'm sick of being treated like this,' he muttered at last. 'Sick of the way things are going right now.'

'I know,' agreed Millie, trying to sound sympathetic. 'But you've got to expect people to be a little upset right now. I'm sure when they find out what a-' She struggled for a moment, she couldn't lie, 'an interesting person you are.' She finished at last, somewhat proud of herself for being both nice and honest.

Knives scowl deepened, 'yeah, right,' he spat. 'It's not fair! When I was exterminating them, they left me alone, I would never have been pelted with rotting rubbish then! Now look at me! I turn over a new leaf and they take advantage. If that isn't proof of my theory of humanity then I don't know what is… And it's not just the people here. All over this accursed planet, it's the same damn story. I try to do something good, try to actually half help the idiotic humans and guess what? They kick me in the teeth! There's a damn bounty on my head! It wouldn't be so bad if it was for the things I deserved, but no, it's not. Look at my brother, just look at him! That idiot has sixty billion double dollars on his head, and I've only got a few thousand. And the nickname, Knives the 'Razor.' What kind of name is that? I sound more like a shaving instrument than a threat to humanity! I mean, I ask you, did Vash start out with such a stupid tag? Eh? Was he 'Vash the Small Heard of Docile Animals? Did he begin life as The Humanoid Mild Breeze? I don't think so! It's sickening, it almost makes me wish I hadn't bothered with all this. At least when I was wiping them out they gave me some respect! At least-'

He was unable to continue as, at that moment, Millie punched him rather hard.

Entirely unprepared for the blow Knives stumbled and fell back, tumbling onto the floor. After a few moments he sat up, putting one gloved hand to his mouth. His eyes widened as it came away red with blood.

'Did you… did you hit me? You really hit me,' he muttered, thrown into shock. 'You hit me…'

He looked up to see Millie, amazed that the gentle, seemingly ditzy woman would hurt him.

She stood there, her hands clenched to her sides, she seemed to be trembling with rage, tears were dripping from her face.

'How dare you?' she said at last, her voice horse. 'How _dare_ you talk like that! It's nasty and arrogant and… and mean! How can you whine and whinge when you've done so many bad things? How can you say things like that when you've hurt so many people? Don't you know how much pain you've caused? Don't you even think about what you've done to them?'

'I…' Knives stuttered, for once at a loss for something to say. 'I… killed them…'

'Yes!' replied Millie, practically shrieking, tears dripping like waterfalls from her pail blue eyes. 'You killed them! You destroyed lives and there are people… people who'll never see those they love again and… and…' Her voice, wobbling with grief, faded away all together. She hiccupped with pent up tears and for a moment Knives found himself unable to look at her, unable to face her.

'Oh,' she sobbed at last, 'please… just have a shower, Mr Knives. I really don't want to see you at the moment…'

Knives nodded and picked himself up off the floor. Some part of him was angry, enraged that she, a spider, had hit him. Had _hit him_, Millions Knives. Another part, however, was saying that he was no longer Millions Knives. He was Knives Bluesummers and that, really, she had every right to.

Knives decided to put the internal debate on hold and simply go and have a shower to clean the residual stinking rubbish off him. He could ponder the issue later, when he had time. Besides, right now his brother, Vash, came first and not his own pride.

He would settle the issue at a later date, one way or another.

……………………………………………………………………………………

For the girls the next few days were spent lazily, there was nothing for them to do but wait and take care of Vash, when he was let out of the Medical centre.

For better or for worse Knives was kept busy during this time. As soon as the preliminary tests were done on Vash he was summoned to help decode the results.

'We know as much about Vash's biology as anyone on this world,' the Doctor had said. 'But you probably know still more. If nothing else you'll provide an excellent biological comparison.'

Had he been in a different state of mind, Knives might have taken offence to that wording. As it was he simply nodded and did all he could to aid in the decoding of the test results.

And the results were most interesting.

'So,' asked Vash, on the evening of their second night, when he was in their quarters. 'What did you find out? What's wrong with me?'

Knives sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. 'Nothing,' he said. 'We spent all day looking at the results, you're in perfect health.'

Vash gawped. 'That's can't be right,' he protested. 'It's obvious to see I'm ill! How else do you explain my symptoms?'

Knives shrugged. 'I don't know,' he replied, 'but so far all your tests have come back clean. There's not a trace of any sort of virus, chemical or disease in you, no biological infection in your blood, or nothing unusual anyway.'

'So… if I'm not sick, what's wrong with me?'

Knives gave another shrug then leaned back, stretching his back. 'I don't know,' he yawned, 'we haven't got all your tests back yet though. There's still the DNA test to come. All we know is that your body's changing.'

'Changing?' echoed Vash incredulously. 'Like puberty? I hope not. Do you remember going through that in the desert? It really sucked!'

'Well,' replied Knives, rubbing his eyes, he felt absolutely worn out, 'all your symptoms point to it. Such as the vast food intake is to provide your body with both the energy and raw materials.'

'Well, how exactly is my body changing? How do we reverse it? Can it be reversed?'

'I don't know,' sighed Knives, growing more than a little tired of his brother's questioning, 'I imagine so. This might just be another step in our evolution, Vash… It might be the next to change or…'

'Yes?'

'Or this might be something more temporary. Something which only effects the body for a short time whilst a job is done… like pregnancy.'

'I could be PREGNANT!'

It had been a while since Knives had heard his brother so genuinely panicked, he decided to have some fun with it. 'Well,' he drawled, 'it is possible… I'm not sure of the mating habits of Plants… In fact, come to think about it, I've never even encountered a male Plant. We might be the ones that carry the babies after all and with the amount of rutting you do-'

'But I've not had sex for ages! I can't be pregnant!'

'-and it would explain the constant mood swings…'

'I AM NOT PREGNANT!'

The door to Vash's small bedroom suddenly swung open to reveal Millie, a large, joyous grin splayed across her face. 'Mr Vash!' she squeaked, 'are you really pregnant! Can I be the God Mother?'

The two men stared at her.

'Does anything bother her?' Knives deadpanned.

'Not much,' replied Vash in a similar tone.

Millie seemed either not to hear or not to fully understand their comments. 'Ma'am!' she called, before either of them could stop her. 'Ma'am! Mr Vash is having a baby!'

'WHAT!'

Meryl's voice rang out loud from the other room, both brothers winced.

'Do you want to explain this to her?' enquired Vash, sweetly.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

As it happened, an 'accident,' in the lab (Knives wasn't convinced. He would have put it passed some vengeful lab assistant to take out a vendetta in this small, annoying, but meaningful way,) meant that the DNA results were delayed. So they spent the day resting in their quarters. They, especially the girls, would have felt cooped up if it hadn't been for Jessica, who came round with food and treated them all to a good meal. Jessica had been the only Sky City resident to visit them, aside from the Doctor.

For this Vash was very glad, it seemed she's forgiven him for the death of Brad. He was amazed at how much she'd changed. She'd grown taller, harder, she wore a shirt and trousers rather than pretty dresses, but her face kept that gentle glow about it, a beautiful, shining goodness which leaked out into her surroundings.

At one point he tried to talk to her about Brad's death, but she waved her hand as if dismissing his sentiment. 'Vash,' she said, 'I know you feel guilty about it, but you shouldn't. His death was not your fault. If anything you were a victim too. If Brad were alive now, I know he wouldn't want anyone to blame you.'

Vash was so overjoyed at her words that he almost cried and he held her tight, or as tight as he could. He could still feel the disease, or whatever it was, taking energy from him, sapping his strength to fuel whatever changes his body was undergoing.

It was the forth day when Knives finally got to examine the results from Vash's DNA test.

Both he and the Doctor squinted at the screen. 'Well,' said the Doctor at last, 'it's plain to see that you are indeed a half Plant, eh? Some of these sequences…'

Knives just grunted. There was something wrong…

'Doctor,' he said, 'do you have any earlier examples of Vash's DNA?'

'Why yes,' replied the old man, tapping buttons on the computer screen. 'This is the most recent, it was done almost a decade ago though, I'm afraid.'

He brought it up and the two men stared at it, comparing it to the most recent result.

'Oh dear,' muttered the Doctor at last, and Knives was inclined to agree.

'It could be a mistake?' suggested the Doctor at last. 'Perhaps the test sample was contaminated in some way… or maybe we're not looking at it right. I'll have the lab do a more thorough analysis.'

'Good idea,' agreed Knives.

'In the mean time,' continued the Doctor, 'I was thinking… there's something I've been wanting to ask you, something that might help our investigations.'

He hobbled over to another computer console and began to tap out various commands. He accessed the central data base of the Sky City Ship.

'This,' the old man rasped, 'is our complete data base for this ship. This was one of the ships in charge of carrying Medical personnel, such as myself. As such it contains a large medical and biological data base, all locked away in this computer. Now, in The Great Fall and in our crash landing on GunSmoke our computer was damaged, but it still retained a lot of data. Amongst this, we believe, may be some information on you.'

'Excuse me?' asked Knives, not quite comprehending.

'What I mean,' reiterated the Doctor patiently, 'is that, with some searching, we discovered several files which mentioned experiments on Plants of one sort or another. I wondered if this might relate to you and your brother. Sadly, the files seem to be both locked and encrypted by a password. It seems only some of the highest ranking scientists and officials had access to them. I, alas, am neither of these. So I was wondering if you, who seem quite experience with computers, might know how to unlock them and access the information. It might shed some light on the situation.'

Knives nodded, 'I can do better than that,' he smirked, 'I can just use the password to get in.'

'How do you know the password?'

'I… persuaded one of the surviving head scientists to reveal it to me, some years back.'

FLASH BACK… 93 YEARS.

_The man gave a horrible, gurgling scream as Knives slowly sliced off his left index finger. _

_He scowled, he was growing board of both the man's screams and the blood. It was all over his nice, clean suit now and, despite his reputation, Knives despised the sight and the smell of blood. But alas it was a brutal necessity in the fight against the foul plague that was humanity._

_'Come on, Professor,' he cooe., Absently throwing the severed finger over his shoulder, trying to sound sweet and persuasive. 'Tell me what the password is and this can all be over.'_

_Professor__Cave__ sobbed softly, either denying Knives request or too far gone with pain to answer right away._

_'Tell me human!' screamed Knives, his patience snapping, he slapped him brutally. 'Tell me now! Give me the information before we run out of digits and I have to start on your limbs!'_

_The man sobbed and, thankfully enough, it wasn't that much later before he talked._

_Millions Knives could be very persuasive like that. _

'Did you now?' said the Doctor, his thin, brown eyes studying Knives intently. 'Well isn't that fortunate. Now, tap it in and we shall see what we shall see.'

Knives nodded and began to tap in the code which would unlock the files. Despite himself he was glad the Doctor was no longer scrutinising him. He wasn't proud of what he'd done, not any more and the Doctor's strange, penetrating gaze only made him feel worse. Not for the first time, Knives wished this could all be over, he was growing to hate Sky City very much indeed.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Knives returned to find their quarters empty except for Jessica, who was mulling about doing some cleaning.

'Oh,' she said, just noticing him, 'hi!'

'Hello,' returned Knives glad, despite himself, to see a cheery face. 'Where is everyone?'

'An old friend of Vash's invited him round to his quarters. Vash said yes and he brought the girls with him. They only left a few moments ago. I think they'll be having dinner there but don't worry, I'll fix you up something!'

Knives nodded, and sat down at the small dining table, watching Jessica as she bustled out of the room and moved into the kitchen, no doubt to prepare a meal.

For a while he just sat there, unsure of what to do. Then he picked up a Data Pad and did some reading. Nothing terribly interesting, just some general reports on what had been occurring within the past two years. No doubt it was something of Vash's, trying to catch up on what he'd missed whilst he'd been away.

Knives found himself acutely aware of Jessica as she worked in the kitchen, his sharp ears catching the sounds of plates and cutlery being moved, food being cooked. Being with her, alone, made him feel rather uncomfortable. As it should, he supposed. He had after all, been responsible for the semi-destruction of her home and the death of someone very close to her.

After a while Jessica came back into the dining area, this time holding two plates in her hands. She passed one to Knives, it contained a steaming, wholesome looking stew. She sat down on the seat opposite him.

'I thought I'd keep you company,' she said, tucking into her own meal. 'I know I hate to eat alone.'

Knives just grunted and began to consume the food. It didn't taste bad, rather pleasant actually. It would have been an extremely enjoyable meal, in fact, if it wasn't for the company. He wished he could say something, anything to break that strange silence, but he was at a complete loss.

Suddenly he felt a strange ache in his insides, he paused, his fork midway to his mouth. He felt the pain again, a strange, stinging ache, right at the pit of his stomach.

'Is something wrong?' asked Jessica politely.

'I… I don't know,' mumbled Knives, his fork clattering on the plate as he dropped it. He began to stand up, the pain returned. This time a roiling, searing wave of agony which exploded in his stomach. He let out a cry and fell to the floor, his stomach still burning from the inside, his vision fogging with pain.

He was on his hands and knees now, he tried to comprehend what was happening? He'd never been good with pain. Never been able to stand it as well as his brother, and this was beyond toleration. He could barely think for it. Amidst the furious agony, his stomach heaved and he found himself vomiting up much of his only recently eaten meal.

He needed help. Was this something to do with Vash's condition? Was it something else? Was it deadly? He needed to get the medical centre but he could not even crawl with all the pain assaulting him. He needed to either be carried there, or else to get someone to bring a doctor to him.

Gathering his willpower he turned his head to look imploringly at Jessica, trying to get his sick smeared mouth to form words.

But Jessica was looking at him oddly, her eyes were wide, her body trembled slightly, but not with fear or concern. For there was a look of triumph, of expectancy in her face.

'So,' she said smoothly, 'I see the poison is working.'

Knives turned round so he could be sick again on the carpet.

'How does it feel?' she asked over the sound of his violent retching, 'to be helpless? To be in pain? Do you know have an idea of how you made other people feel?'

Knives didn't reply. The only sound he seemed capable of making at the moment would be harsh sobs and he wasn't about to sound weak in front of this scheming bitch.

'No,' she said at last, 'I don't suppose you do know. That would need empathy. That would need compassion and you're too much of a monster to feel those emotions.'

'How?' Knives managed to choke at last.

'I did some reading,' explained Jessica, calmly. 'There are a few records of your fights with Vash. I learned you didn't take pain well so I sneaked in some chemicals from the Medical Centre and put them in your food. It was very simple really. Of course, as far as I know the poison won't kill you. Which is why I have this…'

She brutally kicked Knives in his side; he yelped in pain despite himself and rolled over onto his back. He looked up to see the small girl looming above him, a gun in her hand.

She was pointing it directly at his head and, for a moment, with the pain burning inside his body, he couldn't help but recall the end of his fight with Vash. When he had been pierced by five bullets and had lain there, tormented by agony and helpless as his own brother pointed a gun at his head. But this was worse, far, far worse.

'Now,' she said, her voice trembling only slightly, 'I'm going to give you two choices. If you beg for mercy, plead for you life, I'll shoot this bullet into your skull and end it. But, if you don't then I'm going to keep you on your back and let you choke on your own vomit. Wouldn't that be fitting? The all mighty Millions Knives drowning in his own puke? So, it's your choice. Which way will it be?'

From his supine position on the floor, Knives glared up at her, desperately trying to work out what to do. Whichever option he took there would be an unbearable amount of humiliation involved. However a pragmatic voice inside him pointed out, if he did not beg, then he'd have more time. His only hope was to try to play for that time, to stay alive as long as possible in the hope that someone would find him.

'Why?' he managed to hiss out between clenched teeth, he worked furiously against the pain and the rising of his gorge, trying to stop himself retching again.

'Why?' echoed Jessica, her voice becoming high with rage. 'Why? How dare you ask that! How dare you!' She brought her leg back and kicked him in the face. He yelped as it connected with his cheek. 'Because of what you did! To stop you from doing it again! I'm doing this for all those you murdered! For Brad!' Another kick, this one to his stomach, making him vomit again. 'For Stacy!' another to his side, 'for Mark!' his gut, 'for Shelly, Michael, Jonathan!' She kicked him, again and again, screaming names with each brutal lash of her boot.

'For VASH!' she screamed one last time as her final kick hammered into his jaw.

His head snapped backwards, stars and darkness clouded his vision, his agonized body felt very far away, for some reason, as if his soul wasn't properly attached to it. He couldn't even find the strength to whimper as the torment from his poisoned stomach raged on and as his body ached with abuse. He vomited once again, this time it was mostly bile which burned his throat and stung his split and bloody lips.

For a moment rage flowed through his veins. So this was what he got for playing it Vash's way, this was his reward for tolerating humans, betrayal and an ignoble death! Damn them…

He heard a soft clicking sound and, looking up through blackened, puffy eyes, he saw Jessica slowly raise the gun.

Just then the door opened and none other than Meryl Strife strode in.

'Excuse me,' she began, 'I've just come back to… get…' Her voice trailed into nothing as she viewed the strange tubule in front of her. Knives crumpled on the floor, bruised and battered, lying in a mixture of vomit and blood. Jessica, standing tall, a gun in her hand but her face… very pail and twisted with emotion.

'What exactly is happening here?' asked Meryl, her voice calm and authoritarian.

Knives wanted the laugh, though he hadn't the strength and, even if he did, he knew it would only come out as a chocked, rasping gurgle. What did the idiot of a woman _think_ was happening? A friendly little tea party of some sorts perhaps?

'Go away, Meryl,' stuttered Jessica, still pointing her gun at Knives. 'Leave and come back in a few seconds, I'll be finished by then.'

'What do you mean? What have you done to Knives?'

Jessica laughed shrilly, 'what does it look like? I've put him out of action. I'm punishing him for all the evil he's done and now I'm going to put him out of his misery.'

'Jessica… that's not right.'

'Really?' Jessica's blood shot eyes strayed from Knives to Meryl. 'How would you know? You don't know the history of this fiend. You didn't loose friends, family to this monster. But you know enough, right? You know some of what he's done, at least?'

'Yes,' replied the short insurance woman coolly. 'I know.'

'Then you know I'm right. I'm just taking out the garbage. If I let this… this… thing live then I'd just be allowing him to kill more people. You know what he is, right?'

'Yes,' replied Meryl, 'I've seen what he does. He is… or was a monster. He is a murderer. And yes, he might do so again.'

The small spark of hope that had been lit in Knives' heart upon Meryl's entrance flickered and died. He should have known she'd never support him. She'd shown nothing but suspicion and contempt for him since they'd met.

'So you'll go? For just a few seconds?'

'No Jessica, I won't. I won't let you kill him.'

Knives eyes widened… she… she wasn't going to let him die..?

'Why not! He's a murderer! He should be brought to justice at least!'

'He is a murderer, but this isn't about justice. Killing is never about justice. This is about revenge.'

'That's enough!'

'No, it isn't. Because it'll just continue, an endless circle of hatred as someone tries to avenge him. Because everyone deserves a second chance, even Knives. Because no one has the right to take the life of another! Think of the repercussions of your actions!'

Jessica was in tears now, screaming at the top of her lungs. 'You don't understand what he did! He took everything! He needs to die. I need to end it! I don't care about the future! I don't have a future! He killed that when he killed Brad. When he made Vash go away! He ruined my life as he's ruined the lives of everyone he has met! He's a monster!'

'I… I'm sorry.'

The words came not from Meryl, not from Jessica, but from Knives.

Both women turned to him as, slowly, he pushed himself up onto his elbows. He gasped in pain and spat some blood from a cut lip, before continuing. His voice shaky, weak, 'I… I'm not begging but… I know… I have done many… evil things. I know… no apology will ever… ever be enough. Nothing will bring… those people back. But… if I do nothing… nothing else, if I die then… then I can… I can at least say I regret… I am sorry. I truly am. I… I think… I was… wrong'

His strength gave way at this and he fell back down onto the carpet, gasping.

'No,' muttered Jessica, desperately. 'No… you can't say that… you're a monster… you're not allowed to say that… you…' Ser voice trembled, the gun was raised further. Suddenly Meryl moved forward, putting herself between Knives and Jessica, her arms spread outwards, blocking her aim.

'Jessica,' she said, 'don't.'

'No… no… he can't…'

'Jessica, it isn't worth it.'

Meryl began to advance, Jessica stepped away from her, back-pedalling, her eyes wide with fear.

'Please,' she whimpered, almost desperately, 'please… let me… stop…'

Meryl ignored her, she brought her arms forward, as if ready to receive the gun, 'Jessica, please don't do this,' she murmured.

'No… no… this is wrong…'

'Yes, this is wrong. Give me the gun.'

'No… NO… GET AWAY!'

'Jessica…'

Jessica had backed into the wall by now, but Meryl continued to advance. The distance between the two women was rapidly decreasing, Jessica's grip on the gun was shaky, her eyes were wide with panic, fear, and grief. Tears dripped down her face, her voice was raw from shouting.

Then, just as Meryl's outstretched fingers were about to touch the gun's nuzzle, several events happened in quick succession.

The automatic door to their quarters opened once again, its sharp hiss disturbing Jessica. The girl, already on the edge of panic, toppled over into the abyss of madness. She squeezed the trigger of her gun and a bullet shot forth, aimed (all be it unintentionally,) at Meryl's chest.

Before the sound of the first gunshot had even reached Knives' ears, a second spewed forth. Another bullet burst into the air, this one at such a trajectory that it hit Jessica's own shot, mere centimetres away from Meryl, and sent it flying off into a different direction, saving Meryl.

Even before his eyes strayed to the door, Knives knew who'd fired. Only one person besides (perhaps) himself could have performed such a feat.

Vash stood, half slumped in the doorway, his arm-gun still smoking. A look of absolute rage was painted across his features, sharpening it dreadfully, even his eyes seemed to glow blue with an inner fury. Knives had never seen anything quite like it on his brother's face.

Jessica's gun fell to the floor with a soft thud, closely followed by her body as she collapsed onto the ground, sobbing hysterically.

Knives let out a gasp of relief and allowed himself to stop fighting the wave of blackness that had been assaulting him, falling into blessed unconsciousness. The last thing he saw before darkness overcame him was the look of rage melt from Vash's face, replaced by pity, grief and understanding.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Knives tossed and turned the medical small bed, groaning as, slowly, he woke up.

Vash smiled. Despite the reassurance of the Medical Centre staff, he'd been worried about Knives. It was so strange to see him like this, small, hurt, helpless and hurt by a human, no less. He couldn't deny that he was worried as much for Knives mental health as to his physical right now.

Slowly, two cerulean eyes opened (or opened as much as their blackened sockets would allow,) and the Plant looked up at the ceiling blankly for a few moments.

'Knives?'

His brother slowly turned to look at him, wincing at the pain in his neck. 'Vash?' he murmured through his split lips.

'Yeah,' said Vash, 'glad to see you're awake.'

Knives groaned, pain evident in his voice. 'How bad is my condition?' he asked, 'I feel dreadful…'

'Don't worry,' reassured Vash, 'the poison long since worked itself out of your system. You'll need a bit of feeding up, but other than that you're fine. Jessica wasn't very strong either, she…' He paused and gulped, uneasy with talking about such things, 'didn't break any bones,' he continued softly. 'There's just some bruising, a few small cuts, nothing that can't be cured quickly enough. You'll be fine in a couple of days.'

'Good,' said Knives simply, his head falling back onto the pillow, his eyes staring blankly up at the ceiling.

'Knives…' Vash began, but got no further as another figure approached the bed, that of the Doctor.

'Ah,' the old man said, 'you're awake. How are you feeling?'

'As expected,' replied Knives dully, 'I'll live.'

'Excellent, we'll continue work on Vash's case tomorrow then. If you can cope with that?'

'I can,' said Knives slowly and Vash felt a lump of emotion rise in his throat. Knives didn't cope well with pain, so to agree to help further, even for him, it was… amazing.

'Jessica has been confined to quarters,' continued the Doctor easily. 'If you insist I can press charges upon her but, given the circumstances I would rather not. Besides, I hardly think any jury would be friendly towards your disposition.'

Knives nodded, 'I don't want to press any charges,' he said calmly. Vash felt relief first, then, for a moment he felt a small tinge of anger twitch in his stomach. In some ways wasn't fair that someone should get away with this. Knives was still a person and attempted murder was always wrong. But still… he was glad Knives hadn't. Though he had half expected he would. Did this mean Knives was going to take things into his own hands? Vash hoped not.

'Good,' the Doctor was saying, though Vash hardly heard him for the buzz of thought going round his head. 'Well then, I'd best be off continuing our investigations. I will see you tomorrow, Knives.'

The old man hobbled away, leaving the two brothers alone again.

'Thank you,' said Knives at last, when the silence became unbearable. 'For rescuing me… it's lucky you came then.'

'It's Meryl you should thank,' put in Vash, a little sharper than he'd meant. 'She was the one willing to take the bullet. And it's really wasn't luck. We _were_ at a dinner party, but I heard your mind cry out. I just ran to you as soon as I knew something was wrong… um… I guess my condition must be getting worse, you know, what with hearing you even more clearly…

His attempt at changing the conversation fell flat as Knives saw it for what his was, his blue eyes narrowing in suspicion.

'Are you alright,' he asked at last.

'I've just been poisoned, beaten and very nearly killed,' Knives snarled back, 'what do you think?'

Vash gulped and looked away, his mind racing for something, anything, to say that might make things a little better.

'Vash…' at the sound of his name the gunman's head snapped back towards his supine brother. 'I… don't worry, I'm not going to go on a mad rampage or anything.'

Vash let out an audible sigh of relief, then blushed as his brothers eyes bored into him. 'Sorry,' he said, 'but, you know, you are pretty touchy… I thought you'd be angrier than this.'

'Angry?' echoed Knives, 'yes, part of me is but part…' He sighed, 'I… I'm feeling guilty Vash.'

Vash blinked in surprise. This was a new one. Of course, Knives had professed this feeling before, but that had taken almost a year of persuasion to get him to admit his wrongs in the first place. Now he was feeling guilt once again? What had caused this? What else was hanging over his conscience?

'I've never thought,' the pale Plant continued, 'about the results of my actions like this, you know? I mean… whenever I killed I just thought of it in the sense of death counts. I thought about how many humans I'd exterminated, not about those I'd left alive. I never realized… never thought how it must be… to loose someone like that. About the pain I gave to the survivors too… Jessica… Millie… I never thought about them.'

Vash nodded, empathy swelling his heart, 'I know,' he said, 'I've felt guilt too, both that of the culprit and the survivor. You taught me some of that. But you can't dwell on it, it does no good. Guilt… it exists to help us recognise our mistakes and from that we can learn, even correct, our wrong doings. There's nothing wrong with feeling guilt, it's a good thing.'

'It doesn't feel good,' muttered Knives bitterly. 'But I suppose you're right. Does it ever go away?'

'Sometimes,' Vash replied sadly, 'if you correct your mistake.'

'I can't do that. Not even Plants can bring people back from the dead.'

'Then try to balance it out by doing good, by learning from your mistakes. That's what helps me.'

'That and that Meryl girl,' added Knives with a smirk. 'You should thank her for me, I… I owe her my life.'

'Thank her yourself,' sniffed Vash, acting as if annoyed. 'I'm not your slave. Besides, it would do you good to thank a mere _human._'

'Never going to happen,' scoffed Knives imperiously.

'Want to bet on that?'

NOTE: Sorry this came in so late, RL got in the way. :blush: Readers Replies will be going up in a moment on my Live Journal. Also going up will be, by request, a small Knives/BDN fic for your enjoyment.

Also, I've recently discovered I've been making a series of grammatical errors. Most notably my sentence structuring. As I've only become aware of this recently, and I've been writing for a long time, I presume that this isn't a major problem. Currently I don't have the time to do an entire re-write of this fic, though I may go over it later. As such I apologise profusely to any of you who notice and are irked by the grammar errors. I will try to fix them at some point. But unless you want to be waiting months for the next parts of this, I'm afraid you're going to have to live with it.

Sorry.

NEXT TIME: We finally discover what's plaguing Vash… and the news might not be all that good.


	8. Angel of Death

Chapter 7

Angel of Death

The following day, as soon as Knives could walk comfortably again, he went back to work with the Doctor.

They worked all day together, and then the next day too, without telling Vash, Meryl or Millie a single thing. Knives' excuse was that he still didn't have all the answers. He wanted to be absolutely sure of what was happening to Vash before he started making proclamations as to his condition. Vash didn't like the sound of that once bit. It meant something was probably very wrong. Though he didn't share his concerns with the women, of course.

He felt himself going rapidly down hill. The disease, virus, or whatever was increasing its pace. Feathers covered his entire torso now. He felt so weak he could hardly walk more than a few paces. He encountered constant spells of light headedness and dizziness. His telepathic link with Knives had increased to the point that both brothers had to concentrate not to let their strong emotions leak through.

This had been another thing that had alerted Vash to the news that things might be bad. Knives was very worried about whatever it was mucking with his system.

He smiled and laughed it off though. Trying desperately to convince himself that one way or another it would be fine. He would get through this. His luck had never failed him yet. If ranks upon ranks of the finest hired guns couldn't kill him, then surely some dumb disease didn't stand a chance! Surely…

…………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………..

Knives 'Bluesummers,' sighed and finished off his eighth cup of coffee. He resisted the urge to throw the cup across the room when he read the latest results of the third blood test. Once again there were no alien, biological life forms detected within the blood stream. It was fine, there weren't even any mutated cells, as would be the case with a disease like AIDS, or Cancer. His internal organs were clean of any damage or infection too. No, according to all reports Vash was in entirely healthy.

It was utterly frustrating!

'But it can't be evolution,' muttered Knives to himself. 'Otherwise it would effect me as well, surely…'

'I take it those results were negative too?' said the Doctor's voice behind him, causing Knives to actually jump. How was it that the old man could sneak up on him so quietly?

'Yes,' said Knives tersely. 'We're not getting anywhere!'

'Now now,' soothed the Doctor. 'Throwing temper tantrums won't help. Here, have something to eat, I find I always work better on a full stomach.'

He held out a plate full of doughnuts, 'take one.' He chuckled, 'don't worry, they aren't poisoned.'

Knives reached out and took one of the candied confectionaries. He was just about to take a bite out of it when a thought occurred to him. He dropped the doughnut back onto the plate and began to rummage in his pockets.

'I almost forgot,' he muttered. He brought out a small piece of tissue paper, 'I found these, too. They're probably nothing to do with anything but… Well, if someone wanted to poison Vash then they'd probably use doughnuts to do it. These were a new kind of coating.' He showed the Doctor the silver doughnut sprinkles he had picked up off the dirt a few days ago.

'It might be worth looking at,' mused the Doctor. 'It certainly can't do any harm.'

Knives nodded and strode over to the nearest microscope. Slotting one of the sprinkles beneath it he put his eye to the lens. He adjusted the focus a bit, trying to get a better view at…

He paused and brought his head up, away from the lens. He rubbed his eyes, now healed from Jessica's assault on him, and looked again.

'Damn,' he swore breathlessly.

'What is it?' asked the Doctor, taking a look down the viewer himself as soon as the tall plant stepped away.

The veneer of the sprinkle was not an inert coating of small metallic molecules, as would be expected. It was a jumble of tiny, metal… things. Like insects, all jarring together and shifting, their silvery bodies, so small and so closely packed together, giving the sprinkle its sheen.

'What are they?' asked Knives, though he thought he had a clue.

'Nanobots,' breathed the Doctor, awe evident in his voice.

'But,' said Knives, 'those are… were, top of the range technology. Even on the SEEDS ship, before we ever even came to Gunsmoke… Who would know how to make those now?'

The Doctor shook his head, 'not us,' he said. 'That skill was lost long, long ago. I'm not even sure we have the equipment, let alone the expertise.'

'So who does that leave?' mused Knives, scratching his jaw absently. 'This is the most technologically advanced group on GunSmoke. _I_ might be able to pull something like this off, if I had access to the right materials and information but…'

He shook his head. 'This is beyond me,' he murmured. More than a little embarrassed to admit it.

'Well,' said the Doctor, 'we've answered as many questions as have been brought up. These little devils are obviously what have been ailing Vash.'

'But the tests-'

'Only looked for biological life forms, Knives, not artificial. They would have completely ignored these nano-bots. Mark my words. As soon as we adjust our equipment to scan for these, I'm sure we'll find Vash's body teaming with them. Rebuilding him from the inside out.'

Knives ran a hand through his short hair, his face troubled.

'I know what you're thinking,' said the Doctor, kindly. 'But don't despair, not yet. We must keep working towards an answer, Knives. I'm sure we'll find one, somehow.'

'Really?' Knives spat, not meaning to be so irritable. 'All very well and good for you to say, he's not your brother!' He let out another, long suffering sigh. 'I suppose I'd best inform him of our discoveries.'

'Are you sure you want to do that?' asked the Doctor. 'If it's easier, I could.'

'No,' replied Knives. 'It should be me.'

The Doctor frowned and shrugged, 'very well then,' he said. 'Go now and come back as soon as you've finished. There's an old saying, Knives Bluesummers, whilst there's life there is hope. And where there's a will there's a way. Have faith in that, you're brother does.'

……………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………...

Meryl looked up from her latest insurance report as Knives entered their quarters. She frowned. He was back much earlier than usual. The previous day he'd worked in the Medical Centre until very late at night. The dark rings under his eyes and slight, blond stubble on his usually smooth chin were testament to how hard he'd been toiling recently.

'Hello Mr Knives!' greeted Millie from her place at the small dining table. She was currently engaging Vash in a game of chess and, as per usual, was winning (much to Vash's consternation.)

'Hi Knives!' greeted Vash, seemingly glad to have some distraction from the game. 'You're back early, any news?'

'Yeah,' replied Knives, wearily. 'We know what's causing your condition, and what's happening to you.'

Millie gave a squeal of joy, seemingly oblivious to Knives dark tone. 'That's great! I'll make us all some coffee and then you can tell us all about it!'

Vash, also seemingly unaware of Knives unhappiness, nodded and motioned for Knives to sit in the chair Millie vacated as she rushed to the kitchen.

Knives took it and looked dully down at the chess board, not meeting his brother's friendly gaze.

Meryl carefully finished her sentence on the type writer and pushed it away. There would be time to fill in reports later.

She moved to sit at the table herself, feeling the air of unease and tension build. Millie returned and passed round cups of steaming coffee before taking a new seat and looking at Knives expectantly.

Knives stared at the coffee for a while, watching his reflection in the dark liquid, his face blank of all emotion.

'Well Knives,' put in Vash eventually, eagerly. 'What's the prognosis.'

Knives swallowed, his eyes taking on a steely look, as if hardening himself then, in one breath, he spoke.

'I'm sorry Vash. Your condition is both terminal and… incurable.'

There was complete silence for a long time, everyone stunned by Knives statement.

Then, at length, it was broken.

By Vash's laughter.

The Gunman first snorted, then chuckled, then fell into peels of hilarity. His high pitched shrieks echoed around the room. He dropped his cup, the hot coffee spilling unheeded onto the floor. He seemed to loose all control over his limbs, they waved about until he, too, fell upon the floor where he writhed with mirth, tears running down his face.

'Tha-that's funny, Knives!' he warbled between giggles. 'That's… that's the best joke ever! You're really getting a sense of humour!'

'I'm not joking, Vash,' replied Knives. His voice no more than a soft murmur.

'Aw come off it!' said Vash, recovering himself somewhat. 'You must be kidding, right? Yeah? I mean, I _can't_ be dying, I just… _I can't_!'

His blue-green eyes bored into Knives, wide and pleading. But Knives did not meet his imploring gaze.

At length Millie's soft voice broke the silence. 'What does terminal mean?' she asked softly. 'Does it mean Mr Vash is going to… going to die?'

She looked on the verge of tears herself and, to stop the situation becoming still more chaotic and confused, Meryl cut in. Though her own heart was aching too.

'Mr Knives,' she said solemnly, trying to keep the trembling out of her voice. 'I think you'd better explain things fully.'

'Yes,' sighed Knives, 'I suppose I should.'

He took a sip from his previously untouched coffee. Gathering his thoughts until, eventually, he spoke.

'I suppose I should start at the beginning. For many years I've… wondered what we… I mean myself and Vash, are, and why we're here. The Doctor let me access a few important medical files in the computer of this ship which has shed some light on the matter. Though it doesn't by any means answer the questions fully. Vash and myself seem to be products of a human-Plant cross breeding experiment. An attempt to mix human DNA with Plant DNA in an effort to create an entirely new life form. Why this was done; and how it was that we came to be with the SEEDS ship and not in some lab; I don't know. But that is what we are. The product of the DNA of an unknown plant and the project leader of this experiment, Mr Alexander Adams. The project itself was called Project Adam.'

'Do you think that's the same Alex that Rem talked about?' asked Vash, curious.

'Probably,' replied Knives. 'It would make sense. Though how she came to know him I no idea. The records are very sparse. We only know any of this through the briefest of references and remarks.'

'But what does this have to do with Vash's condition?' Meryl pressed. Eager to get onto the matter at hand.

'Well,' continued Knives, 'to make a long story short, those doughnuts with the silver coating you ate? Those silver sprinkles were coated with Nano-Bots. Tiny robots which entered your system and began to destroy your human DNA.'

'They WHAT?' Vash sounded more than shocked.

'Are destroying your human DNA,' Knives reiterated. 'They seem programmed to seek out and destroy the DNA donated by Mr Alexander Adams. Leaving nothing but the Plant DNA left.'

'What will this mean?' asked Meryl, sharply.

'I'm… not entirely sure.' He sighed. 'The fact that Vash is still alive now and not a pile of slime on the floor suggests that his Plant DNA is compensating for the loss somehow. Self replicating itself perhaps. If this is true, and his condition is not checked, then Vash will turn into a full blooded Plant.'

'Well,' giggled Vash, sounding a little hysterical, 'that isn't so bad, right? You're always saying how Plants are superior to Humans anyway. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be a Plant but… I don't see how my condition is gonna kill me.'

'Maybe I exaggerated slightly. To be honest I don't know what will happen. You see, Plants need a Bulb to survive. Or to keep them in this dimension anyway. I don't know how Plants came into existence, but I do know that they probably hailed from some other dimension and were brought here by humans. Now, Plants seem to be unable to entirely exist in our dimension. They need a very special environment to stay alive here, and to keep them here. Only the Bulbs provide that. If Vash turns into a full blooded Plant then it is reasonable to assume that without a Bulb to support him…'

Knives' voice trailed off into silence as the full meaning of his words sank in.

'But…' stuttered Millie, 'there's got to be something we can do. Perhaps if we can put some new DNA in him!'

Knives shook his head. 'No,' he said. 'There's no telling what we'd end up with, even if we knew how to do it. We'd need Alexander Adams own DNA for this, and he's long dead. How the bastard who programmed the nano-bots got hold of his DNA sequence is an entire mystery to start with.'

'Well, could we use yours?' asked Meryl. 'You are twins, right?'

'Yes,' said Knives, slowly. 'But not identical. It would take a long time to separate and copy the pattern of Adam's DNA within my own. Probably more time than we have. And even if we did, I don't know how we'd transfer it back to Vash. Or how we stop the Nano-bots in the first place.'

'How long have I got left?'

This question came from Vash himself. He sounded oddly… calm. His voice was soft and dull. Meryl hated that voice. It was the tone he used when he was depressed, hurting, in pain but afraid to show it.

'I'm not sure.' replied Knives slowly. 'No more than a month, most probably much less.'

Vash got to his feet. 'I'm going to bed,' he said quietly, his voice still devoid of all emotion.

Knives also got up and, with lightning quickness, grabbed Vash's arm as he turned to leave.

'Vash,' Knives said, earnestly, 'don't give up hope. We're going to try to exterminate the Nano-Bots. That should halt the changes, if not reverse them.'

'And how much chance do you think you have of that?' asked Vash. 'How much do you and the Doctor know about Nanotechnology, Knives?'

'I…' Knives was unable to say anything, his answer was obvious. Nothing.

'Right,' continued Vash bracingly, his voice took on an entirely different tone, a happy, careless lilt. 'Well then, there isn't much I can do, is there? So, I'm just gonna have a quick nap. You know, to conserve my strength! I'll see you later!'

He grinned crazily and pulled away from his brother, moving straight into his room. The door closed behind him with a soft 'swoosh.'

No one said anything for a while. What could anyone say in the aftermath of such news?

'I… I think I should go and… and do something,' muttered Millie at last. Moving away from the communal area and into the kitchen with great haste. That was her way, Meryl knew, to try to forget her pain through work. She'd done it after Wolfwood's death. No doubt she'd also do it after…

No; no she couldn't think like that. Vash was _still _alive. There was still hope! She couldn't just write him off as dead just like that, she _couldn't_!

'I'm going back to the Medical Centre,' said Knives gruffly. 'I want to get to work straight away. If…if anything happens with Vash, let me know.'

There was an uncharacteristic note in his voice. If she'd heard it from anywhere else Meryl would have called it pleading. As it was she just nodded numbly and allowed him to leave.

Now it was just her and a blank door. The door leading to Vash's room.

She wondered what must be going through his head right now. Vash, perhaps above all people she'd ever met, loved life. Not just other peoples but his own also. He _lived_ life to the utmost, basked in it, glowed with it. Only once had she seen him suicidal. Once, high upon a cliff top, shortly after Legato's death. She remembered him, even now, screaming how he wanted to go to Rem, be where she was. Yet the events that had driven him to that were monumental. Most people would have taken their lives at half the torment. But then, Vash was not like most people.

He was more vital, more _alive_ than anyone she'd ever met. Oh, he'd faced death, on a very regular basis, but this… this was different. There were not bullets to dodge, no bounty hunters to run away from. No amount of strength, quick thinking, dexterity, wits or luck could help him now. He was dying and he was utterly helpless to prevent it.

The thought was unbearable to her. What it must be like for him she could hardly comprehend.

She brought her hands out to touch the old metal of his bedroom doors. They must have been locked for they did not open upon her presence.

She remembered being in such a position once before. Just prior to his suicide attempt, standing by his bedroom door as he recalled that he had taken a life. His screams had torn her apart and she had done nothing. Nothing at all.

She glanced towards the small communications device by the door. She could turn it on and call to him. Ask him to let her in. Then she could give him the comfort he probably needed so much right now. Hold him through his sobs, reassure him.

If she could just deal with his grief…

Meryl choked back a sob of her own as, slowly, her small hands still resting against the door, she sank to her knees.

It was no good. She wasn't strong enough. Bot then and not now. She wasn't used to dealing with emotion. Couldn't handle such deep pain. It made her feel awkward and embarrassed. To see such a man suffering, to be faced with his agony… she couldn't cope with that.

When it came to matters of emotion and the heart, she knew she was the weakest person alive.

She sat there, by his door, for the rest of the night. Hating herself for being unable to face his torment. Listening for him to start screaming or sobbing. Straining to catch the sounds of his suffering. She tried to convince herself that, if she should hear such noises, she would go in, confront him. She didn't know if she could, however.

As it happened, she heard nothing. Nothing at all and took it as a sign that, perhaps, he was handling it better than they'd thought.

It was a few days later she learned their rooms were soundproofed.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

They didn't talk to each other much in the following days. Vash spent much of his time in his room. He smiled, thanked the girls for food, even made some very light conversation, but it was obvious he was unhappy. His eyes were dark with unease and misery, his smiles strained, his jokes poor.

Knives spent little time in their quarters. Almost every waking hour was spent in the Medical Centre with the Doctor. His appearance became even scruffier; he looked half asleep most of the time. Millie was kind enough to bring him food and coffee when he needed it. Once, when he came home only to fall asleep at the kitchen table, a medical report still clutched in his hand, Meryl saw Millie drape a blanket across his shoulders.

Millie also gave herself no rest, as was her custom she drove away bad thoughts through work. She spent her time cleaning, cooking and doing every other imaginable chore in their small quarters. She even found time to mingle with the other inhabitancy of Sky City and, much to everyone's surprise, she made some friends. The children especially came to love her and she actually found some acceptance in the city.

As for Meryl… She also tried to drive away the thoughts of Vash's impending death through work. But there were only so many reports she could type before her mind ran blank and turned, inevitably, towards a certain ex-gunslinger.

She made sure that, for everyone's sake, she kept her sobs as quiet and discrete as possible.

Two days after Knives had pronounced Vash's condition, Vash asked Meryl to come into his room, and to bring her portable typewriter with her.

She did so nervously, wondering why he wanted her typewriter and desperately trying to look calm and composed. She didn't want to upset him any more than he already was.

'Hello Vash,' she said as she entered his room.

'Hi,' he greeted merrily, waving at her from between his bed sheets. Despite herself she found her eyes drawn to the thick coating of feathers that now covered his chest and had started creeping, inevitably, up his neck. Even his arms were sprouting feathers now. He was looking a bit like some strange, humanoid bird.

'Um…' she began. 'What is it? Do you want me to make you some soup or something?'

'No, no thinks,' said Vash. Obviously just as nervous as she, but hiding it better. He had that strange, disturbing smile of his. A small, friendly grin which didn't quite reach his eyes. 'Actually… I was wondering if you could help me with something else…'

'Yes?'

'Well… could you write something for me? On your type writer… I'd do it myself but I'm not that good with typing.'

'Of course,' she said. Taking a seat by his bedside table she placed her small fingers on the keys of the typewriter, readying herself. 'What do you want me to write?'

'My Will.'

Meryl tried to hold in a gasp. She felt the blood rush from her face, her fingers started to tremble slightly.

'See,' continued Vash, 'I've been thinking these past few days. When I'm gone… Well, I don't really have much. But what I do have I want, you know, to make sure it goes to the right places. Can you do this for me, Meryl? Now I have time… I think I should have a Will. It won't take long, like I said I don't have much to pass on.'

'Al… alright,' stuttered Meryl, wishing she could keep her voice steady, wishing she weren't so weak. 'Where do you want to begin?'

Vash blushed. 'I'm not really sure how you do this,' he said. 'I've never thought about writing a Will, but… um… Ok, here we go…' He cleared his throat dramatically and when he spoke again it was with that deep, show-off voice he sometimes used to impress ladies. Despite herself Meryl smiled, though it hurt her inside to see him acting like this. To be reminded of what she'd lose.

'I, Vash the Stampede,' the gunslinger began, 'hereby declare the following items, to be distributed after my death. My body… or whatever remains of me, shall be given to the Feds. So that my outstanding reward of Sixty Billion Double Dollars may be collected. This reward shall be paid out to Meryl Strife and Millie Thompson. Upon the condition that half of it is also donated to Wolfwood's Orphanage in December. My artificial arm is to be returned to the people of Sky City with my thanks. Any other possessions shall be given to my brother, Knives. Finally…' His voice hitched a moment. 'Finally, my earring shall be left to Miss Meryl Strife.'

Meryl smiled through the tears that were welling up in her eyes as she finished typing out the last sentence. She looked up and saw that Vash had removed the small, silver hoop from his ear and was holding it in his hands.

'Thank you,' she choked out. 'But I hardly think it's my style.' She self consciously tugged one of her drooping, gold earrings.

'In never said I wanted you to wear it in your ear,' replied Vash solemnly.

Meryl's grey eyes widened in surprise but. Before she could do or say a thing, Vash reached out and took one of her small hands. Then, with great tenderness, he took his earring and slipped the silver hoop into her index finger. It fit perfectly.

There were silent for a long while, neither sure of what to say.

'Vash…' Meryl began but was quickly silenced as he put one finger over her lips.

'Listen,' he said urgently. 'I know… I know this is sudden but I've been thinking… if I died now, if this kills me, what will I leave behind? I can count on my hand, my _one_ real hand how many people know me. R_eally_ know me. If I die, what will I leave? A large bounty, a few rumours, some chaos and destruction? Is that all? Is that going to be my legacy to this world? No, I don't want that. I don't want to leave the world that way. I want my life to mean something else, to mean more. Do you understand, now? If I get though this, if I live, I want to live _for_ something. I want my life to _mean_ something. I want to make myself a future, a real future… with you.'

'Mr Vash…' said Meryl, her voice very soft and quiet. 'Are you… are you proposing to me?'

'Yes,' replied Vash. 'Yes… I guess I am. You don't have to say yes right away! I'd never make you do that. Not now! You can throw the ring away as soon… as soon as this is over, if you want. But please, just for now, will you wear it? For me? I want to think that, if I live, I'll have someone to live for. Someone waiting for me…'

'Vash I…' Meryl paused. She found herself staring into those large, aqua marine eyes. 'Of course I'll wear it.'

Vash smiled. A large, real, beautiful smile which seemed to light up the entire room. And, before she could do anything to stop him, he leaned forward and put his lips upon hers.

A moment later they were kissing.

It wasn't spectacular. There were no fireworks or angels, no feelings of ecstasy or epiphany. But that was not to say that Vash was a poor kisser. He had enough experience to be quite adept. He smelt a little like gun powder, leather and soap. He tasted like whisky, freshly backed doughnuts and icing sugar. His arms were alternately warm and cold around her. His lips soft and receptive. She felt his breath tickle her face as he deepened the kiss, preventing all thought and speech.

They remained that way for quite a while.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Mille hummed to herself as she strolled back to their quarters. She'd spent the day playing with some of Sky City's children. Telling them stories about the rest of Gun Smoke and its people. Being children, they were especially interested in the slightly gory and exciting stories. Their favourite topic, of course, was Knives.

Both Vash and Knives were practically legends here. Every child had heard about some of Vash's escapades and his struggle against Knives were the stuff of myth.

'Is it true,' asked one, pigtailed girl, 'that Knives goes into naughty children's houses and eats their brains!'

'I don't know,' Millie replied thoughtfully. 'I don't think so. Mr Knives doesn't like red meat all that much. I don't think he'd do that…'

'Of course it's not true,' scoffed a boy. 'That's just what parents say to keep us in line! I don't think any of it is true. _I _don't think he exists at all!'

'What do you mean?' asked Millie, quite surprised at the child's words.

'Well, it's like Santa Clause, isn't it,' continued the boy smugly. 'He's just something mom and dad use to scare us with. To make us brush our teeth and stuff.'

'But Mr Vash exists!' put in another child, solemnly.

'Oh yeah,' agreed the boy. 'He's real, but Millions Knives is just made up.'

'No he isn't,' said Millie. 'He's real! And I think he'd be quite upset if you said he wasn't.'

'Aw, you're just saying that so I behave,' the boy said dismissively.

'But he _is_ real!' protested Millie. 'He does exist! I live with him!'

'Yeah, well it might be someone just _pretending_ to be him. Like my uncle Marty pretended to be Santa Clause last Christmas.'

'Oh no,' said Millie, assuredly. 'I'm sure it's the real Knives. No one else could be that grumpy or mean all the time.'

'Yeah, whatever,' the boy said, shrugging. 'Tell us some more stories now, tell us about some bandits or something!'

Millie had obliged, reciting the tale of how Vash had managed to stop a group of bandits from stealing a gold train. Still, even when she left the children to go home, her mind buzzed with doubt.

'Knives _does_ exist,' she muttered to herself. 'He _has_ to… doesn't he? Oh, it's so confusing!'

She wondered if she should talk to Meryl and Vash about this. Or even Knives himself. He'd know if he existed, wouldn't he? But then again, she knew that, if she asked Meryl, she'd just tell her to stop being so silly. Knives was probably much to busy and Vash was too troubled with his own predicament to be bothered with such questions.

The thought of Vash made her spirit plummet. Poor Mr Vash! He didn't deserve this! He didn't deserve half of the terrible things that had happened to him, really. It wasn't fair. It would be just dreadful if he died. Almost as bad as when Wolfwood… and Meryl, poor Meryl! Millie knew how much her short companion cared for the goofy gunslinger, even if she couldn't admit it out loud. How would this effect her? The very thought of it brought tears to Millie's eyes.

She was sure to wipe away this moisture before she entered their shared quarters, however. She didn't want to be upset in front of everyone.

She tapped in the key code which opened the door and stepped inside.

Meryl was there, standing in front of the dining table, glaring at her type writer. She had her back turned to Millie so the taller woman couldn't make out the expression on her face.

For a moment she feared that she might have been crying. She hated to see Meryl cry and, if there was one thing she disliked about Vash (who, really, wasn't a very dislikeable person otherwise,) it was the way he made Meryl cry. It always felt so wrong to see Meryl shed tears. She was usually so strong and passionate, almost unemotional, always in control.

'Ma'am?' asked Millie tentatively. Hoping she'd not interrupted a private moment.

Meryl turned round and, far from the tear streaked face she'd been expecting, Millie saw a fixed, stern expression.

Every muscle in her face, every bone in her body was straight and hard. Meryl Strife may have seemed a short woman to those around her, but she was a towering pillar of will and conviction. Once she had her mind set on something she would not let go. She was stronger and more determined in this way than almost anyone Millie had ever met.

Recently this willpower had been smaller than usual. Her spirit somewhat crushed, but looking at her now it was easy to see she'd set her mind to something. She'd made a decision and, no matter what, she'd carry that decision out.

'Millie,' she said.

'Yes Ma'am?'

'I'm sick of waiting for Mr Knives to discover some miracle cure for Vash. I'm tired of waiting here with nothing to do, no way to help. It's time to take matters into our own hands. Time to take action.'

'Yes Ma'am! Um… what are we going to do?'

'We,' said Meryl, a small smile curling the otherwise straight line of her mouth, 'are going to save Vash.'

READERS REPLIES: See my LJ on my User Info! Feel free to comment there too!

NEXT TIME: Vash talks to Jessica, Knives ponders his brother's condition and Meryl and Millie make an extraordinary discovery!


	9. Knockin' on Heaven's Door

Chapter 8

Knockin' on Heaven's Door.

'Ah, Knives,' greeted the Doctor as the plant staggered into the Medical Centre that morning, 'I'm glad to see you here, I've just discovered something interesting. Did you have a good rest?'

Knives struggled to keep a civil tongue, he'd only had three hours sleep, he was (secretly,) sick with worry over Vash and to top it all off the old man, who had even less sleep than he, continued to be obnoxiously awake and cheerful.

He was not in the mood for pleasantries.

'What did you find out?' he grunted irritably.

The tall, dark haired man who was standing by the Doctor snorted angrily, displeased by Knives briskness. Knives recognised him as Rex, the man he'd met just outside the city.

'Well,' said the Doctor, ignoring both Knives' and Rex's irritation, 'I was thinking about our little conundrum and I recalled that, to make nano-bots such as these one would need certain tools. And amongst these is a Diatom Programmer. Now, only a very few of these were taken along on the SEEDS ships, being expensive and of highly specified use. Luckily this ship was one of those which carried them and I recalled that it was still in our High Storage facility, where our most advanced technology is kept. On a hunch I went down there last night, just after you'd left, to check that it was still there. It wasn't.'

'So,' said Knives, sleepily, 'what you're saying is that someone stole it from under your noses and used it to create the nano-bots?'

'Exactly,' said the Doctor, smugly, 'it's not much, granted, but as far as I know ours was the only Diatom Programmer to survive the fall. I've not touched it in years, though when I last did an inventory of our stores it was still there. It's not much, but it is a start.'

'Is there any way of finding out who the culprit was?'

The Doctor sighed and shook his head wearily, for a moment looking his age, 'no,' he said, 'I've honestly no idea how the culprit or culprits as it might be, stole it. It should be impossible.'

'Don't you have guards?' snarled Knives, not really meaning to sound so snappish.

'Of course we do!' it was Rex who was talking now and his voice was full of righteous anger, 'but there weren't any posted round that area.'

'Why not?'

'Because they aren't needed,' spat Rex, his fists balling at his sides, 'the High Security Storage area is a room near the centre of the city, surrounded on all sides by Adamantiumn(1) walls. The door will open only upon the voice recognition and security code of high level SEEDS Scientists and officers. That means the only person alive who could open that door is the Doctor.'

'Could someone force their way though?'

'Almost certainly not,' replied the Doctor, 'and defiantly not without alerting the entire city. No, the only person who could have removed the Diatom Programmer is myself. And, although my memory is far from perfect, I'm sure I did no such thing.'

'So how the hell did it get in the hands of the filth that infected my brother! And how does any of this advance our investigation!'

'Come now, we know the culprit came here, which means that he or she might have left some clue. Those two women who travel with you seemed vary excited when I told them the news.'

Knives blinked, 'you talked to them?' he asked, curious.

'Of course,' replied the Doctor merrily, 'when I made this discovery I contacted your quarters. You were asleep, of course, so those two lovely ladies came instead. The short one in particular, as I recall, was very interested in the news. She actually asked if she could start her own investigation.'

'She did?'

'Why yes, she asked if she could borrow one of our vehicles to do some exploring of the surrounding area. I thought it best to humour her. I leant her one of the Hover Discs.'

'Oh,' said Knives, blankly, not sure what to make of the news. He wondered who'd look after Vash… still, it would get them out from under his feet. He wondered if they were smart enough to pilot of Hover Disc? Probably; it would be too much to hope that they'd crash and die of thirst in the desert.

He let out a long suffering sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

He needed coffee.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

'Wasn't it nice of the Doctor to lend us this Hover Disc?' said Millie as she leaned out over the edge, 'it's wonderful! I never thought I'd fly!'

'Yes,' agreed Meryl, working the controls, 'this is amazing. But don't loose sight of our mission, Millie.'

'Yes Ma'am! Um… what was our mission again?'

Meryl sighed, she wished Millie would keep her mind more on the job, 'to find the source of those ghost stories BDN's men told us about.'

'Oooh, scary! But why are we looking into those? I thought you said ghosts don't exist.'

'They don't Millie,' Meryl explained patiently, 'but I was thinking. Mr Knives mentioned a ghost sighting back at our old town and I was wondering if the two were linked. Especially now we know our target has been to Sky City.'

'That's smart thinking ma'am!'

'Thank you Millie, now keep your eyes peeled for anything unusual. Really it would be best looking at night, when the "ghost" comes out, but I doubt we'd be able so see much then…'

Millie nodded and peered once more over the edge of the disk, gazing down at the endless dues below. Meryl continued to work the controls. She was lucky they were so simplistic, as it was it didn't take all that much knowledge to drive a Hover Disc and having an air vehicle to scan the land below was invaluable.

She just hoped that they weren't on some wild goose chase. Still, after all, it was better than doing nothing.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Rex was not a happy man.

He couldn't think but that it was somewhat demeaning that he, security chief of Sky City, should be relegated to baby sitting.

The Doctor had politely asked (or rather, ordered,) him to go and visit Vash, to check he was alright. This small task had been enlarged when Vash had requested him to take him out on a walk.

He might have refused but for the fact that the Doctor had told him to be as helpful as possible. Still, Rex found himself disliking the gunman intensely. He was a security, chief, a sheriff as the primitives on Gunsmoke would term him, he loved order and if history had taught them anything, Vash was never a source of order.

Still, Vash had saved his life, knocking him out of the way of that stray bullet, so Rex supposed he owed him some courtesy if nothing else.

It was strange, to stride round the familiar corridors of Sky City with a legend half draped across his shoulder. Vash was now too weak to walk easily by himself, but in every other respect he was the picture of liveliness. He waved and greeted everyone he met, recalling many by name. Some shrunk back into their quarters upon seeing him, but quite a few recognised him and returned his greeting. The occasional person even started small conversations with him.

'Ah,' Mrs Green, an old lady who seemed to spend her days knitting numerous jumpers for her grandchildren, 'Vash! How long has it been!'

'Too long Anita,' laughed Vash, 'how are you? Any more kids?'

'No, no, but a few grandchildren. Hold on a moment,' she turned to call to someone inside her quarters, 'Jenny! Jenny! Come out here a moment!'

At her summons a young, teenage girl with flaming red hair skipped out into the corridor. She stared at Vash as if he was some sort of bizarre alien.

'This is Jenny, my grand daughter,' introduced Anita Green, 'Jenny, you've heard of Mr Vash! Once, many years ago, when I was your age, Mr Vash was the one who gave me my first kiss, weren't you Mr Vash?'

Vash blushed bright crimson, 'really Anita,' he muttered, 'I thought we were gonna keep that a secret! What would Benjamin think!'

'Oh, my husband died last year,' informed Mrs Green in a matter of fact manner, 'his heart gave out, you know? Happens to the best of us.'

'I'm sorry,' said Vash softly, lowering his head.

'Come now dear,' soothed the old lady, patting his hand, 'don't let it bother you. Now, would you like to come inside for a drink or some such? Catch up on old times?'

'I would,' sighed Vash, 'but I'm on my way to visit someone else.'

'Alright then, maybe some other time. Don't be a stranger!'

'Bye!' returned Vash happily as old Mrs Green hustled herself and her daughter back inside their home.

It was strangely disturbing, Rex thought, to think that this young looking man had known Mrs Green when she was a girl, had kissed her even. Yet… it was also oddly comforting. This man, this strange, chaotic man would live long passed him and everyone here, if he was not struck down by disease or bullet. For the first time Rex appreciated why he was such a legend, why the Doctor was so keen to heal him. He was more than a man; he was history. He was a part of Sky City, of Gunsmoke itself.

'Are you sure you want to do this?' he found himself saying as they reached their destination, 'she… well, whilst I don't really disagree with what she did, she is a bit… unhinged.'

'Maybe,' replied Vash, sounding utterly solemn, 'but if I am really dying I don't want to leave any more bad feeling behind than I have to. I need to talk to her, anyway. I need to know why…'

Rex nodded, he understood.

Vash sighed and smiled, 'thanks very much for taking me here,' he said, 'but you don't need to come in with me. If you'd just stay outside the door, ready to take me back…?'

'Of course, call me if you need anything.'

'I will.'

Rex nodded and punched the security code which would unlock Jessica's room. Vash moved inside and the door closed behind him. Rex then took up position outside the door, waiting for Vash to remerge.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Vash was glad he had good night vision, it was pitch dark in Jessica's room. He would have thought it empty if it wasn't for the sound of her rapid breathing.

The heavy ornament which was slung towards him from out of the darkness was also a clue.

He ducked quickly, wincing as the object shattered on the wall behind him.

'Aw, Jessica!' he whined, 'don't be like that!'

There was a pause, for a moment the sound of breathing stopped entirely, the lights came on.

Jessica was standing in the middle of the room, wearing a simple, blue and green trouser suit.

'Vash…' she said softly.

'That's my name!' he replied, carefully positioning a grin across his face, 'don't wear it out!'

Jessica lowered her head, seeming not to hear, 'you hate me,' she whispered.

Vash blinked, then sighed, 'nah,' he said, 'I don't hate you, not now. I was pretty upset when I saw you before, I've got to say, but that was a bit of an extreme situation.'

'I'm sorry for nearly shooting Meryl. I didn't mean to.'

'I know.'

'She would have died for him, would have died for that filth… just like Brad…'

'Yeah, Brad didn't think too much of me, either, but he still saved my life, and argued for me in front of everyone else. He was a good man, just like Meryl is a good woman.'

'Do you love Meryl?'

Vash did not reply, his expression was unreadable.

Jessica smiled softly, 'she loves you, I think,' she continued, 'very much so. I think… that was part of the reason why she tried to save Knives, so that you wouldn't be sad.'

'Meryl and Brad are very alike,' responded Vash, 'they were both willing to die for someone they believed in, even if they didn't like them very much.'

Jessica looked up at him for the first time during their conversation, her large green eyes bored into his, 'does she believe in Knives? Does she think he's… he's not a monster?'

Vash paused for a moment, he knew it was best to tell the truth, 'I don't know,' he said, 'she's beginning to, I think. Though he still scares her. I won't pretend he's a saint now, I can't even promise he won't continue his evils someday, but I think he is learning. He finally understands that maybe he was wrong, that he judged humans too quickly, that they can be better. Given time perhaps he'll walk the same road as me, perhaps he'll help you. For now at least he's promised that he won't hurt anyone.'

'And if he breaks that promise?'

'I'll kill him.'

There was silence after that, both parties unsure of what to say next. It was Jessica who spoke first.

'I just wanted to make it up to him,' she said, 'Brad, I mean. He was always so nice to me, he liked me so much and I never… I never even looked at him… I was too busy fantasising about you.'

Her voice quaked with unshed tears and when Vash moved forward to hug her, she did not protest.

'I thought,' she sniffed, 'that by killing Knives I would be helping people, I would avenge Brad…'

'There's no use in revenge,' murmured Vash softly, holding her close, 'it just breeds more death and suffering. You missed Brad because you were too busy chasing after me, don't miss something else because you were too busy plotting against Knives. It's just a waste.'

'Can you forgive me, Vash?'

'Of course.'

With a final sniff, Jessica moved out of Vash's embrace and at last a smile, a real smile lit up her face and Vash found himself struck by how much she had changed. This was no longer a love sick girl, but a mature, capable woman.

'You know,' she said, 'if you want I could make you a new coat.'

'Thanks,' laughed Vash, 'but that's part of my life I've left behind. It's shirts and jeans for me now!'

'A pity,' giggled Jessica, though her voice was still a little horse from crying, 'you looked very good in it. Would you like something to drink…? I'd like to talk to you… really talk…'

Vash nodded, 'sure,' he said, grinning. He stepped forward but at that moment his strength gave way and he stumbled, only just catching himself from falling.

Jessica ran to his aid, 'Vash!' she cried, 'oh, I'm and idiot! I forgot you were sick! How is your illness, have they found out what it is yet?'

'Yeah,' sighed Vash, allowing her to help him to a near by couch.

'And? How are they going to cure it?'

'They don't know.'

'Well then… when are you going to get better? You are going to get better, right? Right?'

Vash paused, then gave a wide, wide grin, 'of course!' he said, 'of course I'm going to get better!'

To his relief, Jessica did not say anything further on the topic.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Meryl Strife tore her eyes away from the control panel of the hover disk long enough to rub the sleep out of them. She was completely worn out. They'd been flying over the desert, searching for clues, since early dawn and now it was sunset.

She gritted her teeth, she didn't want to give up, she knew that they might not have much time to spare but it was getting dark.

'Millie?' she called. There was no reply.

She turned to see her tall partner splayed out on the floor of the hover disk, her head and one arm flopping over the side, the wind tugging at her long hazel locks. Now she listened closely Meryl could just detect the sound of her soft snores.

'Millie!' she yelled.

Millie awoke with a start, 'no more spiders in my pudding!' she shrieked, jumping up. She blinked a few times lazily, readjusting herself to the waking world.

'Oh ma'am!' she said, 'thank goodness you woke me up! I was having the most dreadful dream!'

'Never you mind the dream,' snapped Meryl, 'you were meant to be keeping an eye out for clues.'

'But,' whined Millie, 'there's nothing here! Just a whole lot of sand… I'm sure no spooks would want to live there.'

Meryl sighed, 'that isn't the point. We've got to keep looking, Millie. Vash is depending on us!'

'Yes Ma'am,' Millie said despondently, 'but it's getting dark. I don't think I can see much in the dark.'

'I know. If we don't find anything soon we'll turn back. But let's keep on going for a little longer.'

Millie sighed and nodded forlornly, poking her head back out over the rim of the disk, scanning the endless tracks of sand, now tinted red with the light of the setting sun.

It wasn't that much later when Meryl, stifling a yawn, heard something.

'Millie,' she said, 'do you hear dogs howling?'

Millie jerked her head upwards, also pricking her ears. The sound came again, a sort of high moaning, carried by the wind.

'No,' she said, 'I don't think that's dogs… or it doesn't sound like the ones that used to live on my farm, anyway.'

Meryl was inclined to agree, the howling, moaning sound was too consistent, not varying in pitch or tone. It sounded strange, almost… ghostly.

'Let's follow that sound,' she said, 'I bet it's what those people heard!'

'Ooooh, Ma'am!' shrieked Millie, looking rather scared, 'don't you think it's a bit dangerous, going to investigate ghosts?'

'Millie,' sighed Meryl, 'for the last time, there's no such thing as ghosts,' but even as she said this she couldn't deny a small twinge of fear in her chest.

Both women kept their ears pricked, trying to follow the source of the sound. Matters were not helped by the slight desert breeze, which carried the sound hither and thither, making it difficult to get a lock on its location. Meryl wondered if the source of the sound _was_ the wind, perhaps this was a wild goose chase after all.

Despite all this it was only a few minutes later than they found _it._

Millie was first to spot it, pointing to a distant shape, a sparkle of reflected moonlight (for the suns had sunk below the horizon by now,) and they moved in for a closer look.

What they saw astonished them both.

It was a ship.

It was almost but not quite cylindrical, it must have been three or four times the size of the average car along and twice as high and broad. It seemed to be made of the typical Lost Technology metal, its colour was a mixture of silver and white with bold, blue letters on the side.

These read: Shuttle 1.2, The Lazarus

'Where do you think it came from?' asked Millie, her voice breathy with awe, 'is it from Sky City? Or maybe it's just another piece of wreckage…'

'No,' muttered Meryl, 'I don't think so. We're not all that far from Sky City, surely they would have detected it if it had been here any length of time. And I doubt its debris from the fall, the condition is perfect! We need to examine it.'

Heart thudding in her chest, Meryl landed the hover disk to take a closer look. She grabbed her Derringer laden cloak and fastened it about her shoulders, feeling the comfortable weight of the guns settle there. Millie hoisted her Stun gun, a look of determination on her features.

The two of them stepped out onto the sands and marched forward, approaching the ship wearily.

It was defiantly the source of the noise, the air practically hummed with the strange, high moan. Tentatively, Meryl brought one hand forward to touch the bulkhead of the craft. She briefly felt it vibrate under her fingers before she leaped backwards. A door had opened up at the side of the craft, sliding open much as the ones in Sky City did.

She was just pondering whether or not to enter when Millie made the decision for her, striding forward with her Stun Gun at the ready.

'NO!' cried Meryl, appalled at such recklessness.

'It's OK Ma'am,' her companion called from inside the vessel, 'there's no one here!'

Meryl scowled and stalked inside the ship, meaning to berate Millie for her actions, but immediately forgot all about it when she studied the insides of the craft.

She was by no means an expert in Lost Technology, but she knew that this was some of the best on GunSmoke. No where outside of Sky City has she seen such an amount of working computers! Lit by bright, florescent lighting the consoles shone and glittered with tiny LED's, and it all looked fully operational. What was more, the condition was almost perfect. Even the highly maintained computers and equipment of Sky City showed more wear and tear than the clean, flawless electrics here.

'It's amazing!' whispered Millie and Meryl felt inclined to agree.

She moved to examine some of the control panels, gazing blankly at the blinking lights and strange symbols. Some of the wording she understood, but most of it seemed complete gibberish.

She heard Millie fumbling about behind her, no doubt investigating the instrumentation also.

Once again Meryl tried to think where this vessel could have possibly come from. Certainly, she'd never seen anything like it. It could be a piece of Lost Technology that had been hidden under the sands… like those strange robot monsters Vash and Mr Wolfwood had fought all those years ago. The thought sent a shiver of recollection down her spine. It was possible but… but… even the most secret and hidden of old Machinery had felt the passage of time. Either suffering rust, sand erosion, heat problems… nothing could be as well kept as this. It might have been built yesterday.

Could that be possible? Could this have been built by someone on Gun Smoke? No… no that couldn't be right, surely. Even if there was someone alive with the knowledge, many of the metals needed to create such a construct simply could no longer be found on Gunsmoke. Or else, if they were, they were so incredibly rare it would cost a fortune to collect them.

One thing was for certain, whoever managed to get hold of this was smart. Very smart.

Meryl's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when the tone of the ship's moaning changed, going up a notch. The floor rumbled below Meryl's feet and she struggled to remain steady.

'What's happening?' she asked, turning towards her companion. She gaped in shock.

Millie was sitting at a seat in the front of the craft. For the first time she noticed that there was a window in the front of the cockpit and it was currently showing a moving landscape.

The ship was moving.

And Millie was at the helm.

The tall girl chuckled and her fingers pressed a few more buttons.

'Millie!' shrieked Meryl as another shaking judder wracked the ship, sending the short insurance girl sprawling.

Suddenly the view of golden sands moving beneath them changed so that the sand disappeared and the screen was filled by the dark blue sky, now strewn with stars. Meryl rolled backwards a little as the tilt of the shuttle changed, it was taking off. Millie laughed joyously, she was like a child with a new toy.

'Millie!' she screamed again, 'what the hell do you think you're doing! You don't know how to fly this thing, you're going to get us killed!'

'I don't think so Ma'am,' replied Millie merrily, 'most of these controls are just like the ones on the Hover disk, and the ones that aren't are pretty easy to understand. Besides, we won't crash. I put us on Autopilot.'

Meryl scrambled over to her, grabbing the back of the pilot's seat as the ship continued to ascend.

'What do you mean, Autopilot?' she asked quizzically.

Millie pointed to a small screen containing several numbers which looked very much like a location grid. Above it, in glowing green letters the words, 'Destination Locked. Autopilot Activated,' shone out.

'I just pressed the button here,' Millie pointed to a small green button which read, "Systems Ready: Begin Take Off," 'and this button here,' she gestured to the "Activate Pre-Destined Auto Pilot."

Excitement flooded Meryl's veins, 'do you realize what this means?' she squeaked, 'if this is right then this ship might well take us to wherever it came from! The scoundrel who poisoned Vash was probably on a return run. This could well lead us to wherever their hide out is!'

'Oh Ma'am!' Millie squealed, 'I never thought of that! Shall I see if I can make it go faster!'

'No,' sighed Meryl, 'we'd best be safe. Millie… do you think you can re-direct this thing? Or at least land it. We've got to go to Sky City and report this to Knives and The Doctor.'

'But I thought that we were taking care of matters ourselves,' protested Millie.

Meryl opened her mouth to reply to her partner, but no words would come out.

She imagined returning to Sky City, turning over the shuttle to them. Seeing Knives smile smugly and, perhaps, make some snide remark about how remarkable it was that spiders such as themselves were able to drive it. She imagined being stuck back in those quarters with an ailing Vash whilst Knives went off and claimed all the glory. Being helpless and hapless whilst that annoying, smart ass, arrogant murderer got all the credit. The smug bastard hadn't even thanked her for saving his butt, for being willing to take Jessica's bullet.

'You've got a point Millie,' she said, 'we can't turn back now… never the less it would be irresponsible to go off somewhere so dangerous without telling anyone.'

'Why don't we use the communications system?'

'Excuse me?'

'The communication system,' said Millie, pointing to a small control, just below a largish, dark screen. By the button, in white letters, were the word 'Coms.'

'I'm sure we could get a message through to them using this.'

'Alright then,' said Meryl, shrugging, 'I don't suppose it could hurt. Just don't press any buttons marked Self Destruct. That never ends well.'

………………………………………………………………………………………….

When the communiqué came in the main control room of Sky City turned into an ant hill of activity. Having some idea that this might involve the Plant twins, the Doctor summoned them there quickly.

Vash came in, supported by his brother. Or, to be more accurate, carried by Knives, as speed seemed to be of the essence.

As soon as they entered the control room the Doctor nodded, 'I'm glad you're here,' he said, 'I've no idea where this came from, outside of our operatives and yourself, Vash, we've not received any incoming communication for over one hundred years.'

'So who could it be?' asked Vash solemnly.

'I've no idea,' responded the Doctor, 'but it might well have something to do with your condition. I'm going to activate the communications consol now.'

He pressed a button and the large screen which dominated Sky City's main control room lit up.

It showed the large, pail and friendly face of Millie Thompson.

Vash and Knives goggled.

'Oh, Miss Thompson,' said the Doctor, as if this kind of thing happened every day, 'it's you! How did you get hold of communications equipment?'

'We found a ship!' replied the tall girl merrily, but the vision of her face was quickly supplanted by Meryl's serious face.

'Doctor,' she said simply, 'we found a shuttle in the middle of the desert.'

'You found a _what!'_ exclaimed Vash, clearly astounded.

'A shuttle,' reiterated Meryl, 'we found it by following the sound of its engines, it is in astonishing condition. Also, we've managed to activate the autopilot, we think it's taking us back to where it came from.'

'You're trying to find the base of whoever owns it,' surmised the Doctor, 'perhaps the same person who has infected Vash.'

'Exactly,' replied Meryl.

'This is idiocy!' spat Knives, 'you could be flying straight into a trap! You've no idea how to use that technology properly! Return here immediately!'

'We seem to be doing a pretty good job of it,' snapped Meryl coolly, 'besides, since when did we follow your orders, Knives? We can manage this just fine by ourselves.'

Knives seethed, his face turning white with fury. He probably would have said or done something rather nasty had not Vash put a steadying hand upon his shoulder. He, by contrast, bore a mixed expression, one both of pride and worry.

'Miss Strife,' said the Doctor pleasantly, 'I understand your willingness to take this task on alone, very creditable and understandable. However I do think that it would be wise to take someone more knowledgeable in computer systems with you. I imagine that it's quite likely that, if this personage, whoever they may be, has a fully operational shuttle and is can utilise Nanotechnology, then they will probably have still more machines in their base, wherever it may be.'

Meryl frowned at the Doctor's speech, 'you're right,' she sighed, 'but… it would be a waste of time to return now!'

'That's not necessary my dear,' assured the Doctor, 'we actually have a shuttle of our own. If you could read out the location your Auto Pilot is set to then we can follow you.'

Meryl sighed, obviously reluctant, 'very well then,' she said, 'the location is…' her large grey eyes glanced to the side, obviously reading a control panel, '53 by 2859 by 1749. I hope that helps.'

'It does,' assured the Doctor, 'when you approach the base stay inside the shuttle and wait for backup. Understood?'

'Understood,' replied Meryl curtly, clearly unhappy.

She turned off the communications and the screen when blank.

'Idiots!' swore Knives, 'stupid, damned, filthy-'

'That's quite enough, Knives,' said the Doctor, a stern look on his wrinkled features.

Vash privately agreed with him and tightened his grip on his brother's shoulder. Knives fell silent, though the stormy expression remained on his face.

'Is your shuttle still working?' asked Vash, curiously.

'It should be,' replied the Doctor, 'we do our best to keep it in good condition. Though we don't use it much. Shuttles are of little use inside the atmosphere, we only use it to keep some of our satellites repaired.'

'Can I use it to follow those two stupid women?' snarled Knives.

'Of course, just set the autopilot to the coordinates they gave and it should take you to the same destination. But we'd best hurry, I doubt Miss Strife will follow my final instructions.'

Knives nodded curtly and, still propping Vash up, strode out of the control room.

'Tell me where the shuttle is kept,' he ordered Vash who complied, giving instructions as they walked.

'So,' he said, between directions, 'what's all this about 'I'.'

'Don't tell me you're thinking of coming, you can barely stand!'

'It's my disease,' replied Vash simply, 'my battle, I'm the one that's going to fight it. I'm not risking anyone else.'

'Then you're being even more stupid than usual, Vash. You're taking me to the shuttle and then you're remaining here where you can be cared for.'

'I am damn well coming!'

Knives turned to face him, Vash looked angry, no… he looked furious. Knives couldn't believe his usually easy going twin was so angry, what could have caused this? He hid his concern well, however, saying, 'you know, at over one hundred and thirty you're a bit old for these childish tantrums.'

'This is not a tantrum,' snarled Vash, 'I am not just going to lie here wasting away. I am going to find out whoever did this to me and… and… and…'

'Yes? And what exactly? Wiggle your finger at them disapprovingly? I doubt you have the strength for even that.'

'Knives,' Vash growled, 'if you know one thing about me it's how hard it is to change my mind on something when it's set. Well it's pretty darn set now.'

'And if you know one thing about me, brother,' returned Knives, feeling his own ire rise, 'then it's how difficult it is to change my mind also!'

The twins glared at each other for a long moment and, if one was to look at them right then, one would think how strangely alike they looked, for all their philosophical differences.

Knives was the one to finally turn away, 'very well then,' he grumbled, 'it's your funeral. But I'm still coming and don't you dare argue or I swear I'll smash your knee caps!'

'Good,' said Vash, the rage draining from his face a little, though he still looked grim and determined, 'let's get to that shuttle.'

………………………………………………………………………………………….

They found the ship in a dingy storage bay. Obviously unused, they left footsteps in the thick dust which carpeted the floor.

The first thing they noticed was that, to their relief, Shuttle 4.1, The Arimathea, wasn't in bad condition for its age. Sky City had maintained it well though it still showed signs of wear and tear.

The second thing they noticed, to their displeasure, was that they were not alone.

Sky City's security chief, Rex, was there with a small contingent of guards.

'We're coming with you,' he growled in a voice that brooked no argument.

Vash and Knives exchanged glances.

'Ok then,' said Vash happily, 'help me in while Knives checks the controls, will ya?'

Rex nodded curtly and, as he'd done earlier that very day, he put his arm round Vash. With Knives leading the way, they hobbled into the shuttle.

Knives went straight towards the cock pit. He sat down and began to study the controls, wiggling his fingers in mid air as he worked out what was what. He'd never actually driven a shuttle before, but their operation was simplistic enough.

If those two female humans could do it so could he!

Meanwhile Rex, supporting Vash, had just entered the shuttle.

'Thanks,' said Vash, letting go of Rex and slumping against the wall near the door, 'you know… I'm really sorry about this.'

'What do you-?' Rex's question was interrupted as Vash's hand (his organic hand thankfully) slammed into his face.

He toppled backwards, out of the shuttle hatch and down, back onto the floor of the storage bay.

His men cried out in alarm and rushed forwards but Vash had already activated the door's closing mechanism. He waved and grinned cheerily at the men as it slid shut, relishing the shocked expressions on their faces.

'I love doing that!' he giggled when it was completely closed.

Knives merely grunted in reply, pressing a sequence of buttons. The shuttle started to make a strange, high pitched moaning sound. Vash could feel the floor and walls start to vibrate slightly.

'What's that?' he asked, 'are we about to take off?'

'Idiot,' muttered Knives, 'don't you remember? These things need a while to warm up, about five to ten minutes engine warming time.'

'Oooh,' said Vash, 'well I hope we're off soon, I don't want those guys out there to try to force the door open!'

Knives nodded, 'don't worry,' he said, 'I doubt they could… not without a very hot blow torch…'

………………………………………………………………………………………….

It was just under ten minutes later when Rex, still clutching his head, stumbled back into the main control room.

'Doctor,' he gasped, 'those damn twins have gone out unaccompanied! That bastard Vash hit me, threw me out and closed the door before anyone else could enter the shuttle. They've left without anyone else!'

'Really?' asked the Doctor serenely, 'I rather expected something like that would happen. Ah well, can't blame an old man for trying…'

The floors shook slightly as the shuttle took off, the force of the engines shaking the entire of Sky City.

The Doctor turned on the viewing monitor and watched the shuttle rise up high into the night's sky.

'I do hope they manage to bring it back in one piece,' he sighed, 'it's the only shuttle we have…'

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Meryl glared at the computer screens, trying to decipher the technological jargon displayed there. She'd been lucky she'd managed to access this information at all, just pressing likely buttons seemed to do the trick. Never the less, she was a trifle worried she might cause some damage to the craft. Not something she wanted to do at the height they were cruising at now.

She'd not known it was possible for any ship to go so high, certainly they were well above the cloud level. Last time she'd looked, Sky City was a small speck beneath them and, in front of them, they could see the large forms of the moons and the glimmering mettle of satellites and other metallic debris left over from the Great Fall, which had remained suspended in the atmosphere.

The ship seemed to have increased in speed, the engines humming louder than ever. Anxious to know what their destination was she scanned through the closest thing she could find to a 'users manual,' hoping to find out where the auto-pilot co-ordinates lead. It would be just her luck if they took them out into deep space.

'Coffee Ma'am?' asked Millie, proffering a plastic cup of the potent liquid.

Meryl took it without thinking and had a sip.

Moments later the brown liquid was spewed out onto the console.

'Millie!' she growled, 'that was almost cold! And it was far too sweet. Why are you passing out coffee anyway? We should be concentrating on finding out where we're going.'

'Oh that's easy!' replied her partner merrily, 'we're going to the fifth moon.'

'How exactly to you know that?'

Millie pointed mutely to the view screen window which was now dominated by the pail pink form of the fifth moon, its single, large creator glaring out at them like some huge, malevolent eye.

'Oh,' said Meryl weakly, somewhat shocked despite herself. For a start she hadn't realized they'd come so far. In the comparatively short time she'd been gazing resolutely at the information screen, they'd moved much further than she could have dreamed. They seemed to have left Gun Smoke, clouds and all, far behind them. Now they seemed to be cruising in space and, what was more, towards one of the rocky orbs which rotated around their home.

Of all the destinations she thought her assignment to follow and guard Vash the Stampede might take her, the fifth moon, (or any other moon come to that,) was certainly not one of them.

She shook her head, trying to grab hold of herself, 'well then,' she breathed, 'our villain must be located there… but where there? He or she would need some sort of base to-'

'We're slowing down!' exclaimed Millie and, sure enough, Meryl heard the ships engines start to wind down somewhat. They were still moving but not nearly at the speed they had been.

'We must be getting near our destination,' said Meryl, her eyes scanned the control panels again. Sure enough their speed was going down. Several thrusters at the front of the ship had been activated. These would push the ship the other way, counteracting their propulsion.

'Look!' cried Millie pointing at the screen. Meryl also looked, straining her eyes to catch what her companion had spotted.

Their, in the distance was… something. A pail, silver something stuck onto the dark side of the fifth moon.

As they ship drifted closer details of the object became more apparent and, right then and there, several of Meryl's questions were answered.

For, half buried on the dark side of the fifth moon, was one of the SEEDS ships. Several of its portholes sparkled with internal light and, upon its side in bold letters, were the words SEEDS SHIP 1.

(1) Yep, that's taken from X-men and Marvel comics. Well, why not?

Notes:

Sorry for any problems/spelling/Grammar errors in this chapter. I'm very much rushed for time at the moment and I had no time to go over it to re-check it. So please be forgiving.

Please check my LJ for your readers replies, but leave a review here.

NEXT TIME:

Knives and Vash are in for an unpleasant surprise, Meryl realises a mistake and meets a legend. And the past comes up to bite them all in the arse.


	10. The Ascension

Chapter 9

The Ascension

The Lazarus slipped in through two large doors at the front of the half wrecked ship. It landed in a spacious storage area, immaculately kept with two other shuttles parked on either side of it. There was space for as many as five shuttles, however.

After a few moments the shuttle doors opened and both Meryl and Millie stepped out.

'Wow,' said Millie gazing round the bay wide eyed, 'this place is amazing! It's like stepping into the past!'

'Or the future,' muttered Meryl, also taking in the sights. It was very much like the shuttle in that it was not remarkable in it's technology as such, (it was similar to what was found in Sky City after all,) but astonishing in it's state of repair.

Not that it was perfect. This area was relatively undamaged but looking at the entire ship from the outside it had been clear to the insurance girls that as much as half of it had been wrecked in some way.

'Well,' she sighed, adjusting her derringer laden cloak around her and closing the shuttle doors, 'we'd best do a little exploring.'

'But Ma'am, the Doctor told us to stay in the shuttle…'

'We won't go far,' assured Meryl, 'but I don't think there's any harm in taking a small look around.'

'Well… um… Ok…'

The tall girl followed Meryl as she wandered across the large shuttle bay, her eyes trying to take in everything.

There were two doors leading out of the bay, Meryl took the largest.

It led to a corridor lit by bright, florescent lights. Asides from these lights in was small and plain enough, the two women followed it until they came to another corridor. This one very much different for, at the side of one wall, there were massive windows. Windows which gave an unobstructed view of space and, suspended amongst the stars, was Gunsmoke.

'It's beautiful!' breathed Millie, pressing her hands and face against the glass.

Meryl said nothing, her eyes were fixed upon that golden, cloud strewn orb. She was used to feeling small, it was one of the problems of her stature, but right now… She'd thought it amazing how tiny everything was when she was high up on the Hover disc… she'd always known what the stars were… where they came from. But right now, looking down upon her home planet, surrounded by the distant stars… she'd never felt so small, so powerless… insignificant.

She quickly tore her eyes away from the glass, hating the emotions the view brought out in her.

'Come on,' she muttered, 'let's go back, we'd best wait for those two dunderheads to show up.'

Millie made a small sound of disappointment but never the less followed her as she trudged back down the corridors.

Something was bothering Meryl. She wasn't sure what it was… but something was defiantly wrong. It had been nagging in the back of her head for quite a while now, certainly since she'd first seen the SEEDS ship. And the feeling had just grown within her, though she'd no clue as to what was causing it. All she knew was that there was something odd, something out of place. Of course, that didn't help much seeing as so much of this situation was wrong and out of place.

They re-entered the shuttle bay and made for the craft which had carried them there, its door was invitingly open.

They were just a few steps away from it when Meryl stopped dead in her tracks.

She'd closed that door.

It was then that she realized what had been bothering her. _Of course! _How could she have not noticed at the time! How could she have been such a fool!

'Millie,' she said slowly, 'do you remember before? When you gave me that cup of coffee?'

'Yes Ma'am,' said Millie. Sounding curious as to why Meryl was asking such a question.

'Where did it come from?'

'Well… er…' Millie's eyes went blank as she tried to remember.

'Please Mille,' begged Meryl anxiously. 'Try to think, this is important!'

'Um… I think I just found it,' said her tall friend at last. 'Just sitting on the side of one of the computer panels.'

'So you didn't make it?'

Millie shook her head.

'Then it must have belonged to someone else! It must have been there before we came! Damn, Millie, do you know what this means?'

'Oh Ma'am!' cried Millie, horrified, 'does that mean someone will be mad at me! I didn't mean to steal someone's coffee! My Big, big brother says stealing is bad!'

Meryl resisted the urge to slam her head against the nearest wall. 'No, Millie,' she growled, 'what it means is that we weren't alone on that shuttle! We had a stow-away… most likely the original owner, the villain… He must have heard us coming and hidden in the shuttle. Then, when we landed, he left just after we did,' she gestured towards the open shuttle door.

'Damn it! We had him! If only I'd paid more attention!'

'Never mind,' soothed Millie. 'He's not going to get away now! The only way out of here is by using those shuttles, right? So as long as we're here…'

'I suppose you're right,' sighed Meryl. 'But he's got access to all this technology now, there's no telling what he could do…'

'Well there's no use in worrying,' said Millie decisively. 'Mr Vash and Mr Knives will be here soon, they know all about old Technology! They'll know what to do!'

'Yeah,' muttered Meryl, sloping back into the shuttle, 'great, just great.'

Knives kept his fingers hovered over the controls, occasionally bringing up the user manual to check he was doing everything right.

Vash, on the other hand, was leaning back in his chair, gazing out at the view screen a look of supreme boredom written all over his face.

'Are we nearly there yet?' he drawled.

'I've no idea,' muttered Knives, really not in the mood for this, 'shouldn't you be convalescing or something?'

'Conval-what?' asked Vash. Knives did not reply, he was fully aware of Vash's IQ. He might play the idiot to fool the humans (for reasons Knives never could understand, why lower himself like that after all?), but it wouldn't work with him.

When he received no answer from Knives, Vash let out a long sigh. 'I've spent the last few days lounging about in bed, helpless. I finally get out and about and I'm stuck here, in a tiny ship, with you in a strop.'

'I,' iced Knives, 'am not in a strop.'

'Well you're not exactly cheery,' said Vash. 'Come on, we're in space again! Out amongst the stars for the first time in a century! How can that not make you feel a little bit happy? You'd think that _you_ were the one dying.'

'Don't joke about that Vash, it's not funny.'

'Who ever said I was being funny? All I'm saying is that you should lighten up a little.'

Knives just continued reading the manual, he wouldn't rise to his brother's jibes.

Vash sighed once more, letting out a long, drawn out whine of breath.

Then, unseen by Knives, he smiled wickedly and reached over to press a control near him.

Knives, seeing the movement from the corner of his eye, snapped his head round.

'What did you just-' he began then, gasped as he felt himself slowly rise from his seat.

'Vash,' he snarled, 'turn the Gravitational Generators back on right now!'

'Aw, come on brother,' laughed Vash, pushing himself off his seat and somersaulting in the air, 'lighten up!'

Knives glowered at him and leaned over to turn the gravity back on, but was stopped by Vash who grabbed his wrist.

'Please,' his brother begged, 'come float with me?'

Looking into those wide, aqua marine eyes, Knives found himself unable to resist. With a reluctant sigh he pushed himself up out of his chair and joined his brother floating in the air.

It was… good. Even better than he remembered. He spun lazily, pushed himself off a few walls, twisting and turning in the air, the tails of his blue trench coat spinning around him. He found himself smiling, grinning even. Vash was also having fun, now literally bouncing off the walls. Despite his condition, he was moving about easily enough, no doubt enjoying the freedom the lack of gravity gave him. The two brothers spun, twirled, danced and flew in mid air, pushing off walls, chairs and each other. Grinning, playing, laughing and, when Knives finally tired of this, he simply stretched back, enjoying the feeling of being suspended in midair.

He'd forgotten how much fun this was, how much he'd loved it. When they were younger they'd always sought out the areas on the SEEDS ship with no gravity, like near the engine rooms where it wasn't needed. They'd often hidden there, relaxing, playing. Sometimes they'd spent hours there until Rem or someone had dragged them away for dinner. Vash, especially, had loved it there, had liked to take the time to think, to consider. He often went there when he was upset, enjoying the feeling of security and solitude it gave him. He'd once said to Knives that it made him feel like he was in his mother's womb, all safe and peaceful. Knives had pointed out that they'd never been in any sort of womb, but Vash didn't seem bothered by this.

Knives lazily twisted his head to ask Vash whether he still thought and paused, his eyes widening in concern.

Vash, who'd been previously soaring playfully was now curled up, his hands wrapped round his knees and his knees locked below his chin. It was his pensive position, the one he took when he was hurt or troubled, Knives had often seen him like this back when they were younger, especially when Steve had started to…

He shook the thought from his head, determined not to dwell on those dark times, fighting back the worm of anger which still lingered in his chest from it. Vash had taught him he could do better, that he should do better. Dwelling on that anger and pain would only make him like Steve, after all.

He floated towards Vash and put his hands upon his shoulders comfortingly.

'Vash,' he asked, 'what's wrong?'

Vash looked up and smiled wanly, 'nothing,' he said. 'It's just… this brings back some sad memories too, you know?'

'I know,' agreed Knives softly. 'Do you want me to turn the gravity back on?'

'No,' replied Vash. 'Memories, all memories, show how the soul has grown. But still… I'm glad I could do this again, one last time…'

'Come on,' said Knives, trying to sound cheery and failing miserably. 'Don't talk like this, I'll find a way to stop this… this condition. You'll be fine.'

'Yeah,' muttered Vash, 'I guess so… it's just I feel so weak. I'm not used to feeling weak or helpless. I can feel myself changing, I can feel every little part of me changing and there's nothing I can do about it. Knives… promise me, if… if there's nothing you can do… will you take care of the girls?'

Knives wanted to say something else, wanted to berate is brother for being so negative about the situation. He was a Plant, Knives was a Plant, they were working together! So, surely, nothing could threaten them. Together they were two parts of a whole, invincible, unstoppable. They were sure to find a cure in time… sure to…

And yet…

He looked at Vash, took in his wan skin, the white feathers which were, even now, pocking up from under his shirt collar and sleeves. For the first time he felt really worried, concerned that he might not be able to help Vash after all. What if he couldn't? What if he lost Vash? What if...? No; no he wouldn't. That would never happen, he wouldn't _let_ it happen. Still, if it made Vash happy…

'Yes,' replied Knives. 'I will, I promise.'

They might have talked more but, right then, a small, shrill alert sounded.

Knives reluctantly pushed away from Vash, floating back towards the pilot's seat. He'd set the controls to sound out an alert when they approached the co-ordinated destination.

Looking out he could see the large, reddish bulk of the fifth moon, the crater glaring out into space accusingly.

'Wow,' muttered Vash from behind him. 'To think I did that! It looks even more impressive up close.'

'Indeed,' agreed Knives breathily. His own blue eyes widened, 'and that wasn't even at full power… with a few adjustments the energy output from the Angel Arm could get even higher… it's wonderful… truly awe inspiring...'

'If you say so,' grunted Vash, and Knives was reminded that the entire experience had not been particularly pleasant for him. Guilt rose up in his gorge and he bit his tongue.

'So… we're going to the fifth moon?' queried Vash doubtfully.

'Well, probably more likely a base of some sort,' explained Knives. 'Though who the hell would have the resources or know how to create such a base and why they would go after you…?'

'The mystery deepens,' boomed Vash dramatically. 'Can't we get a closer look?' he then asked in a more normal voice.

Knives frowned then began to work the controls again. 'We might be close enough for the sensors to pick up our targeted location… if I feed in the coordinates then…'

As Knives finished in tapping the keys the screen flickered and changed, showing their destination.

'No…' breathed Vash, his eyes so wide they seemed to take up his entire face, his skin turning even whiter, 'no… it can't be… it just can't be!'

'We… I saw it,' whimpered Knives, who bore a similar expression on his features, 'we saw it destroyed in the atmosphere! I was sure… it can't be true! It can't be!' He put his hand in his mouth, biting down upon his fingers, partly some remembrance of a childhood habit, but also to stop himself from screaming.

'I suppose,' said Vash, 'we could have been mistaken… There were a lot of ships and… Knives, could that really be it? Am I dreaming…? Do you think… perhaps… is it true Knives?'

But Knives gave no reply save another, tiny whimper of shock, his eyes were glued at the view screen, at their destination.

SEEDS SHIP 1. The ship they had grown up on.

After over a century away, they were coming home.

Meryl was pacing up and down the shuttle by the time they arrived. The two women watched the bay doors open and the second shuttle, the Arimathea, enter the ship.

It landed smoothly on the docking bay, its engines soon dying down. It remained there, still and silent for a few minutes.

Meryl tapped her foot in annoyance, 'when are they going to come out?' she muttered to herself.

'Maybe they've forgotten how to work the door?' suggested Millie, 'do you think we should open it for them?'

Meryl was just about to reply when the doors to the craft finally opened and Vash staggered out.

He looked even worse than she remembered, his face was as white as the paper she typed her reports on, feathers stuck out from beneath the collar and cuffs of his shirt, his steps were unsteady. He looked ready to topple over in a dead faint at any moment.

Millie dashed over to him, slipping herself under one arm and supporting him, 'are you alright Mr Vash?' she asked, her sweet voice filled with concern.

'Yeah,' gasped Vash, though he didn't sound it. 'I… I just wasn't expecting this.'

'Isn't it amazing?' laughed Millie. 'Is this like the ship you lived on, Mr Vash?'

'This _is _the ship I lived on Insurance Girl,' replied Vash, wearily.

Meryl frowned, 'but I thought you said that was destroyed.'

'I thought it was destroyed to, but it wasn't… it must have crashed on the moon.'

'So why is it still working?'

'I don't know.' Vash's eyes seemed to become unfazed for a moment, as if he was trying to listen to something on the edge of hearing. 'I can sense one of the Plants is still alive here,' he said. 'She must be running this thing. But… it feels like she's been asleep a long time, resting because she wasn't needed. Someone must have awoken her.'

Millie's eyes widened, 'you can tell all that now?' she gasped, 'but you're not even close enough to talk to her!'

'I don't need to,' said Vash, tapping the side of his head, 'apart from anything my Plant abilities have become much stronger recently. I suppose there's got to be some perks to loosing my human DNA.'

'What about Knives,' said Meryl, a little uncomfortable with the way the conversation was heading. 'Why hasn't he come out? Or didn't he come with you?'

'He's came with me,' replied Vash, (and Meryl's heart sank a little,) 'but seeing this place was… ah… rather a shock.'

'Oh really?' asked Meryl, her voice horribly sweet. 'Does he need to lie down for a bit?'

'I'm fine now, thank you.' Said a new voice and Knives came striding out of the shuttle towards them. He also looked pale and shaken but was at least on his feet.

Meryl sniffed, 'good,' she said coolly, 'so, what is the plan of action?'

Vash opened his mouth to say something but was unable to even begin his thought before all the breath was literally sucked out of his mouth.

The bay worked on an air-lock system. First the shuttles would pass through a small compartment which would enclose them, as soon as they entered, and fill up with air. Once this had been done the inner hatch would open, allowing access to the shuttle bay and preventing a vacuum from sucking all the air out of the ship.

Now, however, both hatches began to slowly open and the air from the shuttle bay was sucked out.

All four gave shrieks of terror as a sudden, dreadful wind appeared, one which pulled them towards the opening hatches and out into empty space.

Many people would have done the sensible thing then and rushed back to the shuttles, retreating to safety and even escaping that mysterious and dreadful ghost ship.

These people, however, were far from normal. Asides from two of them bearing Plant genes, they were four of the most stubborn and determined people on GunSmoke, people who would not give up, no matter what.

So it was that, instead of rushing back towards their shuttles, they made haste to one of the doors that lead to the rest of the ship.

They barely made it in time, indeed the force of the sucking gale was such that Meryl was plucked off her feet and Millie was forced to carry her through the door. Vash, the disease making him weak and clumsy, had to be dragged by Knives part of the way and they only just made it through the exit doors in time before the hatches opened entirely and all the air was lost to the vacuum.

Once they were all through Knives punched the button which closed and locked the automatic door. It did this and, at last, the sucking gale was gone.

'What,' gasped Knives, 'the hell was that about?'

Meryl blushed with embarrassment and told him everything that had happened since they found The Lazarus, including the fact that they might well have let their mysterious adversary escape.

'He, or she, must have activated those hatches somehow,' finished Meryl, 'probably hoping we'd be driven out into space, or that we'd leave of our own accord.'

Knives smiled bitterly and opened his mouth, undoubtedly to say something sarcastic and derisory but Vash cut across him. He didn't want an argument.

'Let's split up,' he suggested. 'Knives and I can go to the control room and you and Millie can explore some of the rest of the ship. We'll look for clues and meet back here in… erm… a couple of hours?'

'That sounds like a reasonable idea.' Agreed Knives, 'but what if the females need our help?'

'Don't talk about us as if we aren't here,' snapped Meryl. 'And we're women, girls, or ladies, not _females._ Besides which, we're entirely capable of taking care of ourselves!'

'Really?' sneered Knives, 'didn't sound that way when you were screaming before!'

'You were screaming too,' growled Meryl, 'you were just as afraid of being sucked into space. You squealing like a baby!'

'Oh actually I thought he was sorta more yelling,' said Vash quickly, desperate to avert an argument, 'Knives is much too manly to squeal. I was screaming though, I'm good at screaming, I find it helps when facing moral peril. I do a good shriek too… and running of course, running is always good, hahahahaha!'

He laughed crazily but no one else joined in.

'You know,' said Millie suddenly, 'you could always use Mr Vash's ring, that can be used for communication, can't it?'

All eyes strayed to the small silver band on Meryl's wedding finger. Knives in particular glared at it, his eyes widening in surprise, a myriad of emotions crossing his face.

'Oh,' said Meryl weakly, inwardly cursing Millie, she'd rather hoped not to bring the engagement of Knives' attention, she had a feeling he would certainly not approve, 'I forgot…'

'Good idea Millie!' put in Vash, 'I've got the other part of it right here!' he reached into his shirt pocket and drew out what looked like a pen, 'just speak into it if you need us,' he instructed, 'and we'll do likewise with the pen if we need you.'

Knives muttered something under his breath which sounded a little like 'that'd be a cold day in hell,' but he was quickly dragged away be Vash, who was using the walls as support.

'See you later girls!' he chirped over his shoulder, 'don't get into too much trouble.'

'You're a fine one to talk' Meryl retorted as she turned her back on the retreating brothers and walked the opposite way down the corridor, Millie hot on her heels.

'It's so strange,' said Vash, clutching Knives' arm for support, 'everything looks so… different. Smaller, if you know what I mean?'

'Yes,' agreed Knives, 'it makes it harder to navigate, I'm finding it difficult to remember the way to the control room.'

Vash sighed and rolled his eyes, somewhat annoyed at his brother's lack of nostalgia. Acting on a whim he let go of Knives and, gathering his waning strength, brought his hand up and touched the ceiling.

'Hey, look Knives!' he cried, 'look! I can reach the ceiling! I'm so tall, I must be taller than-' his voice cut off abruptly and his eyes briefly deadened, weighted down with sorrowful memories.

'Hey, Knives,' he said at last, 'do you think… do you think she might…'

'No,' replied Knives swiftly, almost harshly, 'I'm sorry Vash, but no.'

'She might be,' protested Vash feebly, his voice tinged with a sort of desperate irritation, 'I mean… we never saw her… she could-'

'Vash,' interrupted Knives, 'even if she lived through the crash here, which I doubt, it's been over a century, one hundred and thirty years. Humans, even Earth Humans with proper medical care, rarely live that long. And if the Plant here has only fairly recently become functional again then we can suppose that this place has been without life-support during much of that time. How could she be alive?'

Vash pouted, 'you're such a dream wrecker,' he grumbled.

'I just don't like seeing your hopes shattered all over again,' replied Knives evenly, 'speaking of which…'

'Yeah?' Vash didn't even attempt to keep the aggressive note from his voice.

'What are you thinking of, with that human woman?'

'Her name's Meryl, Knives, learn it because soon she'll be your sister in-law.'

'She's a human, Vash!'

'So?'

'So even you, self deluded as you are, have to know how it'll end. No matter how human you pretend to be you're a Plant… or part Plant at least. We are immortal; we'll live centuries, even millennia after that woman is dead and dust!'

'Funny,' smirked Vash without a trace of real humour, 'and here was I thinking I wouldn't live past next week!'

'Don't joke about that,' snapped Knives, his own temper frayed to breaking point, 'or… is that why you're doing this? Because you've got nothing to loose…'

'Shut up, you don't know what you're talking about! This is my life, no matter how long or short it is, and I won't let you dictate how I should live it! I nearly did that once before and it was one of my biggest mistakes. Conversation over!'

'Vash-'

'Conversation over Knives,' snarled Vash making a slashing motion with his arm. Then, apparently wearing himself out with his rant he leaned against one of the walls, breathing heavily.

'Here,' said Knives eventually, speaking much softer, 'take my arm.'

'No thanks,' replied Vash stiffly, 'I can use the walls just fine.'

He staggered forward with Knives close behind him, ready to catch him if he fell but trying not to show it. He sensed that, at the moment, Vash was in no mood for pity and he himself, if truth were to be told, wasn't in much of a mood to put up with any more of Vash's temperamental outbursts.

'I wish you hadn't mentioned the ring,' said Meryl, as they walked down the twisting hallways. It was hard to keep track of where they were going, so Meryl had taken to marking their way with a dab of lipstick on some of the walls.

'Why Ma'am?' asked Millie, 'I think it's wonderful that you and Vash are getting married! I didn't think that you'd ever say anything to him!'

'I didn't,' muttered Meryl, 'I think he just… presumed… or perhaps he just figured it out,' she sighed, 'and I don't know that I will be getting married yet, he might not survive this after all. And even if he does then…'

'Yes?' Millie's sweet voice was filled with puzzlement.

'Nothing,' sighed Meryl, 'it doesn't matter. Let's try this one.'

As they'd been walking down the corridors they'd come across numerous doors. Most of them opened on command and led to largish chambers. Many of these rooms were more or less empty but a couple, like the one they were looking into now, looked like people had once lived in them.

This room held a bed, a computer console, a large cupboard, a desk of draws, a small bedside table and, finally, propped up against the wall was some large, oblong object, hidden by a cloth, standing upon its end.

'Doesn't it feel strange?' remarked Millie, looking into the room, 'I mean, all the people here are dead. Doesn't it feel a little wrong, looking into their rooms?'

'You're right Millie,' agreed Meryl, cautiously stepping inside, 'but we can't let that get to us. This is Vash's life on the line here.'

'Yes Ma'am,' agreed Millie, following her in.

Meryl found herself heading for the bedside table where two photographs in stainless steel frames stood. One showed a picture of five people, three men and two women, all looking happy and relaxed. It had the kind of composition which showed it was a somewhat formal photograph rather than the kind of casual pictures friends took. The second photograph, however, was almost certainly an armature work and it was this photo that caught Meryl's eye.

It showed two children, kneeling in front of the camera. At first Meryl through they were girls, for their blond locks fell almost to their hips, but a closer inspection of their facial features showed something quite different. One boy was leaning towards the camera a little, his hands on his bare knees, his face full of curiosity, blue eyes wide. The other child was hiding behind his brother, only half of his face was visible as he stared out at the camera shyly. One, aqua marine eye, long lashed, a little scared and with a small mole beneath it, looked straight at the camera from behind the safety of his fellow.

There was no mistaking them, even at the young age they were then. It was Vash and Knives.

She could hardly believe her eyes, they'd changed so much! She stared at the picture blankly for a while, taking in every speck of it. She wondered which crew member these quarters had belonged to, she had a horrible idea that she knew.

A dreadful scream from behind her made her drop the photo. She spun round, reaching inside of her cloak for her derringers but stopped short, her mouth dropping open in surprise.

Millie had pulled the cloth off the upright rectangle sitting against the wall. Now she stood before it, a hand over her mouth, her face full of shocked horror.

In the upright casket was a body.

The body of, as a simple, brass plaque proclaimed, Rem Saverem.

Meryl put her derringer away and took a slow step forward, her hand stretched outwards to touch the casket. Then she stopped herself, it wouldn't have felt right, somehow.

'Ma'am is that… is that Miss Rem?'

'That's what is says,' replied Meryl, trying to keep her voice even. It was only a dead body after all, she'd seen worse.

She could hardly think that this woman, lying here so silent and still, trapped within the casket, was the Rem Saverem Vash had talked of. Now she looked closer she saw that it was not simply a box but some sort of modified stasis chamber. Which was, undoubtedly, at least part of the reason why the body was so intact. It was odd, whenever Vash had mentioned Rem he'd said her name in the same way one would say, 'God,' or 'Jesus,' full of awe and love. Meryl had always pictured her as a tall, slender woman with long, flowing golden hair, pristine robes of white and milky skin, a sort of angelic mother for Vash.

But she wasn't like that at all. She was well built, almost stocky and she was certainly not towering in stature. Long, silky black hair hung almost to her waist, her eyes, though closed, looked like they should be large and expressive. Her skin was pail, but that was only because of a mixture of death and blood-loss, Meryl wagered, her actual skin colour was probably quite dark. She seemed almost oriental in appearance and was dressed in a strange, blue and white uniform. She wasn't dazzlingly beautiful, no pure white aura surrounded her, her form didn't speak of heavenly decent. She was just… another woman.

'Is she… is she dead?'

Meryl studded the glass roofed coffin. Now she looked closer she saw there was a bandage wound tightly across the woman's waist and, though no blood was showing, she would have bet her right arm that it hid a mortal wound. Something about this, the plaque, the still, painless of the body, the very situation spoke of last rights and the sleep of the departed.

'Yes,' she replied, 'I think so. We'd better go and tell Vash about this.'

'No!'

Millie's outcry made Meryl jump, she turned on the woman, 'why ever not, Millie?' she asked, 'he deserves to know.'

'Um… yes but… um… it… he can't know!'

'Why?' Meryl was overflowing with puzzlement now, she'd never heard of Millie trying to conceal any truth, or lie about any fact.

'B-b-because she's still alive,' said Millie, 'to him and… and it would be like killing her, telling him she was dead! He needs to have her here.'

'Millie,' said Meryl, softy, looking into her partners large, suddenly tearful eyes, 'I don't understand.'

Mille paused, she looked down at her feet, seeming to collect her thoughts, 'it's hard to explain ma'am,' she said, 'but… do you remember in Carcasus? Where Mr Wolfwood was… where…'

'Yes, of course I do.'

'Well,' began Millie, taking a deep breath and talking rather fast, as if trying to get everything out in one go, 'do you remember how I wouldn't go to watch Mr Vash bury… to watch him… make the grave?'

Meryl nodded, even now she recalled how Millie had shaken her head, still crying wretchedly. No amount of begging could persuade her to leave that room until, eventually, she and Vash had to bury Wolfwood alone, erecting a simple marker for him.

'It was because I was waiting for him,' explained Millie, 'I still am. I didn't want to see the… see what was buried. Because… because Mr Wolfwood asked me to wait for him until he came back, and I am! I saw him leave and… and one day… one day he will come back for me. I'll just be doing something like walking or working or cooking and there he'll be, smoking and saying hello and all that! It won't matter that he's been gone for so long, because I waited for him. And… and… if I saw his body then… then I know that he was dead, really dead and that he'd never come back and I don't think I could stand that ma'am!'

'Millie…' Meryl said, wishing she could somehow vocalize what she actually felt, wishing she had more skill with emotions and less with cold logic and order.

Millie hiccupped, tears running down her face, she sniffed and rubbed some of the moisture from her eyes.

'It's alright Ma'am,' she said, trying to sound cheerful, 'but do you understand what I mean? Mr Vash is the same. He said to me, once, that he promised he'd never leave Miss Rem. And he thinks Rem will never leave him, not really. She'll always be there for him, in the sky, because he never saw her die, never saw her body. If he saw this then I think he's know, really know that she was dead. You saw what happened last time he thought she'd left him, after Legato…'

Meryl nodded numbly, she remembered his torment, how close he was to taking his own life.

'Well I don't want that to happen again,' said Millie, her voice now full of determination, 'I know it's illogical and silly and sentimental but that's the kind of person Vash is… the kind of person we are. Please Ma'am, just this once… don't tell him?'

Meryl paused, Millie was right, it was illogical, silly and sentimental but… it was right, for him. And despite all her rueful moaning, that was the man whom she loved, she could never cause him that sort of pain, even if it meant hiding things from him. He'd done the same to her, after all.

She nodded slowly, almost in wonderment of the situation she found herself in and the people around her. It was amazing, really, that people could hide the truth from themselves so well, could escape from reality and live in such a sentimental bubble. Perhaps Vash had learned it from Rem? But who had Millie learned it off? Meryl could hardly believe that she still thought Wolfwood would return, it was almost spooky. But then she'd long known that part of her tall friend was holding onto the memory of the dark priest. She even kept a locket, hidden under her work clothes, containing a snatched cigarette butt end, stolen from an ashtray in an abandoned hotel room. The only memento she had of the man she'd loved though it was really a very sentimental and-

Meryl blinked, connections fizzled in her brain and, in one blinding moment and idea, a desperate, even stupid idea burst into life.

She turned away and rushed to the desk of draws, opening each compartment in turn and rummaging through the items she found there.

'Ma'am!' protested Millie, 'what are you doing!'

I've had an idea,' said Meryl, excitedly, 'I was just thinking… Rem Saverem was a sentimental woman, that we learned from Vash. She also was involved with the late Alex Adams, quite deeply I presume.'

'Yes?' said Millie, still watching her partner as she rummaged through the draws desperately.

'Well then,' continued Meryl, 'she'd be just the sort to- ah ha! I've found it! Now if I'm right…'

From amongst the mess of items she drew out something. A necklace or, to be more accurate, a locket. She opened the small silver locket and spared a quick glance at the picture within it. It showed an oldish man with blond hair, spiked upwards, but it was not Vash.

But this was not what made Meryl's heart thump with delight. What brought the ecstatic grin to her face was the small lock of golden hair lying inside the picture frame.

'What is it?' asked Millie, looking over her shoulder.

'This, if I'm not very much mistaken,' said Meryl triumphantly, 'is a picture of Mr Alexander Adams and a lock of his hair. I bargained that Miss Saverem would be just the person to keep such a sentimental memento! Millie, do you know what this means?'

'Um… that Mr Vash will be able to see what Mr Adams looked like?'

Meryl resisted the urge to slap her empty head, 'no,' she growled, 'what it means is that we've come a step closer to curing Vash! Mr Knives said to me, back in Sky City, that a full DNA pattern could be found in even a single strand of hair or flake of skin. He also said that we needed some of Mr Adams DNA to fix Vash, so that we know what the pattern of his original human DNA donor was! We have that! We're halfway there to healing Vash!'

'Oh well done ma'am!' yelled Millie joyfully, almost punching the air in her glee.

'Thank you Millie,' replied Meryl, trying not to sound too pleased with herself. 'Now let's find the others. I can't wait to see the expression on Knives' face when I show him my discovery!'

Notes: Sorry this is so late, work getting me down. Bleugh. Please remember to leave a review and check out your replies on my LJ!

NEXT TIME: A happy end is at last in sight! Or is it? The twins fight but then realize they've got something bigger on their plate. The insurance ladies run… but only into further peril. Vash makes a sacrifice, and our mysterious antagonist causes yet more trouble…


	11. Paradise Lost

Chapter 10

Paradise Lost 

Vash's mood hadn't improved by the time the twins arrived at the control room. The gangly gunman had decided to throw himself into a profound sulk which irked Knives no end. He couldn't fathom the reason for his brother's bitter temper and whilst he in truth only rarely fully grasped his brother's emotional state at all, telepathy or none, this was beyond him. And there he'd been, believing that, after over a century of arguments, their relationship was finally improving.

It seemed not.

The control room had been in one of the more damaged areas of the ship, a large support strut had fallen, effectively blocking the door. Luckily both men, even Vash in his weakened state, were sufficiently strong to move it, though it needed both of them.

'How do you think anyone managed to bring back life support, without using the control room?' panted Vash as they moved the blockage.

'Probably from engineering,' grunted Knives, 'almost all of the ship's controls can be accessed from there. Works as a backup if the Main Control room goes down.'

'How did you learn all this stuff?'

'Simple, I actually spent some of my time studying rather than watching clouds with Rem.'

_Explains why you turned into such a cold hearted bastard _

Knives' head snapped up as the thoughts invaded his head. He dropped his end of the support beam and Vash, unable to bear the weight alone, also let his end fall.

One look at Knives' hurt expression and Vash seemed to realize what had happened.

'You heard my thoughts, didn't you?'

Knives blue eyes turned away from Vash guiltily, all the answer he needed.

'Sorry,' apologised Vash, 'I'm finding it extremely difficult to control my telepathy and you know me… I find it hard enough to control what comes out my mouth, let alone my mind.'

'Yeah,' said Knives, still trying to keep the bitter hurt from his voice. 'If you say so.'

The door, now clear of debris, opened smoothly as they approached. Knives strode in first, leaving Vash to carefully follow him, still using the walls to support himself.

The room was a bit of a wreck. Several of the chairs had been toppled, another support beam had come down, a few of the consoles seemed to have exploded. However, beyond that it seemed to be in fully functioning order.

There was an odd, musty smell in the room, a smell which Vash couldn't immediately identify but was oddly… worryingly, familiar. It was not a pleasant smell.

Knives was already standing at the main console which, fortuitously, had been undamaged. His fingers flew across the surface and against the eerie light of the screens Vash could make out that his shoulders were oddly tensed.

Perhaps he really had wounded Knives deeply. He didn't mean to hurt his feeling so much. Though in truth it was Knives' own fault for taking the entire thing so seriously.

He staggered forward a few steps meaning to comfort him.

As he stumbled forward something caught to the side caught his eye. He was just level with the captain's chair when he turned so that he came face to face with the decayed form of Captain Joey, one skeletal hand still clutching a gun, a neat bullet wound in his head.

For a moment Vash stood stock still, hardly believing, hardly registering what his eyes were telling him. His breath came fast and harsh, his heat beat thrummed in his chest, tears pricked his eyes.

'Knives...' he whispered harshly, 'Knives, what…?'

'Isn't it obvious?' asked Knives, his voice somewhat hoarse, as if he too were keeping back emotion.

'He killed himself,' muttered Vash dully, his eyes fixed on the slumped skeleton of a once great man. The closest thing he and Knives had ever had to a father figure, really.

'No,' spat back Knives. 'I killed him.'

'You… killed…'

'Yes… I killed a lot of people, Vash. Directly or indirectly. He was not the first, nor was he the last, as you well know.'

'But Knives, you weren't even two years old! You were so young!'

'You remember what I was like back then.'

'What you're still like, you mean.' Vash found that his tears were drying, evaporating in the heat of his growing rage.

'Damn it Vash!' swore Knives, twisting round so he faced his brother. 'You know I've changed! You were there! You were the one responsible for those changes! I made a few mistakes, I admit that, but-'

'A few mistakes?' repeated Vash, half laughing, his voice almost hysterical. 'You made a few mistakes! What the hell do you classify nearly destroying the entire human race as then? A minor error of judgement? A not so wise decision? You are unbelievable!'

'You're a fine one to talk!' snarled back Knives. 'You've never made a well thought out decision in your life. If it's not parroted from your precious Rem then it's a spur of the moment choice carried by your sentiments rather than your intellect. It's a wonder you've any brain at all, it's so rarely used!'

'Well I've done a damn sight better than you, you cold hearted, callous, murdering bastard!'

'At least I'm in one piece! At least I'm not covered in scar tissue!'

'Yeah, well that's no thanks to you!'

'What the hell is that supposed to mean?'

'It means it's all your fault!' Vash's words were coming thick and fast now, fuelled by the red hot rage which boiled his blood. Part of him knew what he was saying was cruel, was wrong, but it felt so _good_. It was as if all this rage, all this frustration had been building up in him like a stagnant dam and now he was letting it all out. Venting all his anger and fury at the situation.

'It's always your fault!' he screamed. 'You were the one who killed them! You were the one who made the ship crash! The one that killed my friends, that went after me! It's your fault I destroyed July and Augusta! It's your fault I have such a large bounty on my head! Even this disease is probably down to you somehow. It's your fault! I just wanted to live in peace and happiness but you ruined it!'

Vash had moved forwards as he was screaming this, now he was nose to nose with his startled brother. With each word the anger built within him, filling his diseased ravaged muscles, giving him strength. The world became hotter and clearer, everything sharpening in a needle point of rage, a need point honed on Knives.

He didn't know exactly how or when it happened, one moment he was yelling at Knives, the next his right arm swung out and his fist collided with Knives' face.

For a second the whole world seemed to stop. His brother's head, which had twisted round with the force of the impact, turned slowly back to face Vash.

Knives' lip was bleeding, no doubt the skin around his jaw would turn blue with bruising soon enough.

Tentatively he brought one hand up and touched his split lip, smearing blood onto his finger and looking at it in astonishment.

His eyes became wide, his entire face twisted with astonishment becoming almost child like in appearance.

'You hit me…' he asked as much as stated, his voice soft and wavering, 'you… really hit me? You… you hit me!'

Suddenly Knives' own face contorted with fury, his arm swung back and came forward, too fast for the sluggish Vash to dodge. It collided with the side of his face.

The force of the blow, combined with his weakened condition, nearly took him off his feet. As it was he staggered under the impact, falling onto one knee.

'I…I'm sorry…' stuttered Knives, seemingly shocked at his own actions, the anger draining from his face a little, being replaced by guilt and pity.

For some reason this only angered Vash further. He didn't need those emotions, he didn't want those emotions. He just wanted to let out the building rage and frustration within him.

So he laughed a little, amused at the stupidity of this situation, before quickly slamming his fist into Knives' stomach.

Knives doubled over, gasping in pain. He pushed Vash down as he fell, trying to pin his twin, but to little avail. Vash wiggled out of the way and the two were in a fully fledged fist fight.

They punched, rolled, kicked and bit, Vash fighting with anger and desperation, Knives attempting to simply subdue his brother. It wasn't easy. Vash was the weaker, the disease taking its toll, but his determination, rage and sheer passion leant as strength to his blows that Knives found hard to ignore.

Not that Knives didn't get in a few hits of his own, but Vash, being more accustomed to pain, easily shrugged them off. To make matter more interesting Vash was, in this case, actually the better fighter. Knives had learned many of his tricks through books and computer programs. He learned a lot about gunmanship, a little on some martial arts, but brawling he'd almost no experience with. Vash was rather practiced in this area, being involved, (all be it reluctantly) in his fair share of bar room brawls. He fought _dirty, _utilising fists, knees, elbows even teeth. Nothing was sacred under his relentless, savage attack.

Who knows who might have won their tussle, but the outcome would never be revealed for, just as Vash was about to deliver a crippling blow to Knives' groin, a loud claxon sounded.

The two brothers paused, completely still then, in an unnamed truce, Knives rolled away from Vash and staggered back over to the main console. Their quarrel was put aside, for now.

Vash pulled himself to his feet, having to use the furniture to steady himself, 'what's happening?' he asked.

'Um… those mistakes you were mentioning before?' replied Knives, sounding almost sheepish.

'Yeah?'

'Well, I believe I just made another.'

'What do you mean?'

Knives took a deep breath, 'to access all the computer controls I had to hack the command code. Nothing I can't do with my expertise. So I did this and then we got to fighting so…'

'So…?'

'So whist we were fighting, our enemy, whoever that is, hacked into the main controls through engineering. They've just activated the ship's security systems. That's the claxon we're hearing now.'

'I gathered,' muttered Vash, putting his hands to his ears, 'can you switch it off?'

'I can try,' responded Knives, putting his fingers on the controls once more.

No sooner had they touched the keys when there was a flash of light, a burning smell and a pained yelp from Knives.

He staggered backwards and put his fingers to his mouth, sucking at them desperately.

'What the hell happened then?' asked Vash, who was grinning despite himself. The scene of Knives with the fingers of both hands desperately stuck in his mouth was somewhat amusing, no matter the situation.

'The devil's put an electric feedback in the controls. Who ever touches them gets electrocuted. I was just lucky the voltage wasn't enough to kill me!'

'Well then,' said Vash, 'we'd best get to engineering if whoever's doing this is there. You can access the controls from there, right?'

'Yes,' agreed Knives, moving away from the electrified consoles.

He marched towards the door and opened it.

Outside was a small army of security robots, the red pinpricks of laser beams all converging onto various points of Knives' body.

He dived back through the door, flattening himself against the wall, Vash did the same when he caught sight of the red laser beams.

Getting to the engine room was not going to be easy.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Not so far away Meryl and Millie were running for their lives.

'They're catching up Ma'am!'

'I know that Millie!'

The two women had been fleeing down the corridor for a few minutes now. They'd been on their way back towards the door to the shuttle bay when, out of nowhere, several strange robots had appeared.

They looked much like the things that had attacked them on the journey to Mai City, all be it of slightly smaller proportions. What had set them off neither woman knew, one moment they'd been walking, next a loud claxon had sounded and these strange robots had appeared. Meryl had downed a couple with her small derringers but she loathed to use them all. She had only a limited ammo supply, after all. And Millie was in much the same position.

Thus running had seemed the best recourse, though now Meryl considered it perhaps it wasn't such a wise idea after all. She had no idea of the layout of the ship, nor where they would be safe from these mechanical monstrosities.

Their only option, as far as she could see, was to hope they could outrun the creatures and find somewhere to hide until they found Vash and Knives.

Meanwhile the three robots following them were catching up.

Matters were suddenly made more urgent when, turning a corner, she came face to face with two more robots.

Their laser beams were just fixing on their targets when Meryl, acing on instinct, brought her two derringers forward, aimed them, and fired.

Her speed and accuracy was such that the two creatures fell down before they could get off a single shot, something the short insurance girl was extremely grateful for.

At the same time Millie twisted round to face their pursuers and shot off her own stun gun. Whether it was luck, programming, or some strange hand of fate, the machines were perusing in an almost straight line, one behind the other. So when the first robot keeled over under the force of the stunning projectile, it took the second and even the third with it, domino style.

'Nice going Ma'am!' congratulated Millie happily.

'Thank you Millie, you didn't do so bad your-' she stopped, seeing the tall girl's eyes widen in terror.

She spun round reaching into her cloak but already she knew it was too late.

The third robot, which had just turned the corner, was already aiming at its target. It shot just as Meryl managed to draw her derringer and fire her own bullet.

The metal fiend fell to the floor with a crash, but its missile was already heading towards its target. It flew passed Meryl, straight towards Millie.

The tall woman cried out once, a mixture of fear and pain, as the bullet slammed into her chest.

Millie Thompson fell to the floor with a soft whimper and lay there, very still.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

'So then,' said Vash, activating the gun in his artificial arm, 'I suppose we'd better fight our way through, right?'

'Are you sure you're up to it?' asked Knives, looking Vash up and down.

'I beat you to a bloody pulp before, didn't I?' scoffed Vash easily.

Knives' opened his mouth to argue the point, but swiftly shut it again. The last thing they needed was another fight. Not when they had plenty of robots to combat.

'Alright then,' he said, 'but be careful.'

He knew saying that last part was akin ordering magnets not to attract, or water to flow upwards, but it was worth a go. It meant he could say 'I told you so,' later, if nothing else.

'Sure I will,' laughed Vash. 'Now, do you want to be decoy or support?'

'Huh?'

'Oh yeah, you probably haven't fought with anyone at your side before, have you?'

'No,' replied Knives simply, he didn't feel particularly ashamed of this fact.

Vash let out a long, drawn out sigh. 'Fair enough then, I'll be decoy.'

'What does that mean?'

'You'll see,' and, without further explanation, his crazy, broom haired idiot of a brother dashed out from behind his cover and out into the corridor.

'Hey!' he yelled at the robots standing stationary outside. 'Hey! I'm here! Whoo-hoo! Come and get me you rusting piles of junk!'

The robots, as one, fixed their targets on the goofy gunman and let fly their ammo. Their shots, which (strangely enough,) seemed to be bullets of a sort, flew straight towards Vash. He leaped backwards and did a strange, desperate dance as he tried to avoid the bullets.

'Knives!' he screamed, 'help!'

Knives swore at his brother's idiocy and, leaning out from around the corner, fired at the machines. They each went down, none of them having so much as the smallest chance to return fire at him.

'Nice support!' congratulated Vash, panting a little.

'You idiot!' yelled Knives and he would have had several more choice words to shout but he was interrupted as still more machines approached.

They immediately targeted Knives who dived and cart wheeled out of the way, trying to avoid being shot. He didn't have to doge for long though, two shots rang out and there was a loud crash as the machines fell, destroyed by two of Vash's well placed bullets.

'Nice decoy,' he laughed, 'you're learning!'

Words were inadequate to fully express Knives' emotions. He settled with a full out glare.

He might have eventually found something adequate to say but several more machines appeared and they were lost in combat again.

Soon a sort of tactic was formed between the brothers. Vash, being best at these things, generally took on the role of decoy. He would leap out and catch the robot's attention, sometimes screaming insults such as, 'your mother was tin-can opener and your father a faulty solitaire game!'

With their attention elsewhere Knives would jump out and shoot them down.

However, though their technique was excellent there was one problem with their plan. There seemed to be more robots than they had ammo for.

'This is my last cartridge,' noted Knives, slipping the six bullets into his gun.

'Do you want me to take over as support?' asked Vash.

'No,' said Knives sharply. 'You're worn out, you won't last five minutes. We'd just better hope that we're reaching the end of the ship's supply of security Robots.'

'I doubt it,' sighed Vash in a rather uncharacteristic show of cynicism. 'Still, if we can just make it a little further… perhaps if we get to the ammunition storage room?'

'I didn't know we had one of those on the Seeds ship,' commented Knives, surprised that Vash would have this knowledge and he didn't.

'I don't know that we do.' Responded Vash, 'I was only guessing.'

Knives sighed and, once again and held back the strong urge to hit Vash round the head repeatedly in the desperate hope that it would somehow put some sense into him.

Weapons ready, Vash using Knives as support for his stumbling steps, they turned another corner in the twisting corridors. Immediately they leapt back, horror stricken.

Just round the corner about a dozen security robots waited patiently.

'They must have gathered here,' muttered Knives, 'ready to trap us, just like this!'

'Can we look for another rout?'

'I don't think there is one.'

'Right then,' sighed Vash, 'I suppose I'd better get to it!'

'Get to what? What the hell are you talking about?'

'I've got a plan,' Vash clarified, 'an idea, but I'll need you to be decoy for a bit.'

'We've been through this,' protested Knives. 'You're not strong enough to shoot them all!'

'Trust me,' Vash implored him. 'I know what I'm doing… or I think I do at least.'

'That's not particularly reassuring.'

'Have you got a better idea?'

'No,' said Knives reluctantly. 'Alright, let's do it.'

'After you,' Vash gestured and Knives, holding back the growl in his throat, stepped out from behind the corner and faced the small armada of machines.

'Um…' he began, how did one try to attract the attention of a bunch of metallic monstrosities anyway?

'Uh… hey, over here you bunch of… rusty spare parts!'

The red pinpricks slithered towards him and rested on various parts of his body. As they opened fire Knives jumped, leaping, ducking and weaving in a desperate attempt to prevent becoming the human/Plant equivalent of Swiss cheese.

'Now would be a great time to do whatever it is you're planning to do Vash!' he yelled as he avoided another bullet.

At that moment, from the corner of his eye, he saw a bright flash of white light and, if he weren't so busy trying to avoid death, he might have stopped and gawped at the sight taking place.

Vash was activating his Angel Arm.

Sweat dripped off his skin, his face was screwed up with concentration as the powerful energy of the Angel Arm was called forth from within him. Knives could hardly comprehend how he managed to focus such power without the use of his gun. He certainly couldn't and that was a fact.

Vash stood with both arms stretched out in front of him, the sleeves of his shirt ripped and turned into so much dust. His organic arm glowed with power but it also seemed that, through the circuits of his metal arm, some energy lingered. The intensity of his power was such that his entire body shone with it, it lit up and shone from the feathers that had recently be sprouting all over him, it glowed through his skin, it burst out from his eyes. At that moment, standing tall and powerful with brilliant energy currents spinning around him, Vash truly looked like a Plant Angel.

Then the energy was released, it shot down the passage way in a thin ray of brilliant light. Knives leapt out of the way, flattening himself against the floor, hoping he wouldn't be get caught in the crossfire. He knew full well the effects of being struck by Vash's angel arm.

Meanwhile there was the shriek of twisting and warping metal as the security bots were literally ripped apart by the energy blast. Within a matter of moments all that was left of them was some useless heaps of twisted junk.

The task complete, the brilliant energy dimmed, faded and was gone.

Slowly, almost fearfully, Knives struggled to his feat and surveyed the wreckage.

'Amazing,' he whispered, his voice full of awe. 'That energy… how did you call it forth without the gun? No… wait… you must have tapped into the electronics of the nanno-bots… yes… used those to amplify and control your power somehow. Truly astonishing… the destruction… the precision…'

He turned back to Vash, more words of praise on his lips but they were quickly forgotten.

Vash was on his knees, sweat was literally dripping from his face, his skin was bone white and every inch of him was trembling violently. Worst of all, though, was the terrifying sight of white feathers slowly emerging from the skin of his face.

Several things came together in Knives' mind very quickly.

'Your idiot!' he cried, running forward and kneeling by his brother, 'you've aggravated your condition! By using your Plant powers, by manipulating and encouraging the nano-bots you've made things worse! You're transforming faster!'

Vash looked up at him wearily, the hint of a wan smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. 'You always said,' he rasped softly, 'that… I needed… to change…'

His voice was broken as the shivers that had wrecked his body developed into tremors and from there into spasms. His entire form twitched and shook, little gaps and hiccups of pain emerged from his mouth, twisted in agony. Knives grabbed at him and held him tight, desperately preying whatever was happening would pass.

In truth he knew that it was useless, Vash's actions had only made the situation worse for him, had only speeded up the progress of the nano-bots.

Vash was dying in his arms, and there was nothing Knives could do about it.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

NEXT TIME: You'll see.

And remember, for your readers responses check out my LJ! They should be up any time soon!


	12. Where Angels Fear to Tread

Chapter 11

Where Angels Fear to Tread…

Knives gripped Vash desperately as his brother trembled and shook in his arms, soft whimpers escaping his throat as his body was wracked with spasms of torment. His hands, almost claw like, came up to tear at his chest and shirt.

'Vash,' begged Knives. 'Don't! Stop!'

But Vash ignored him, he just continued to rip and shred his shirt, as if trying to tear it from his body.

Perhaps it was telepathy, perhaps it was instinct or intellect, or maybe it was sheer desperation, but Knives suddenly had a strange insight.

He aided Vash in removing his shirt, carelessly throwing the torn garment aside. Then he allowed Vash to fall onto his stomach and held him down as he bucked and writhed with spasms of pain.

Knives examined Vash's back and saw there, amongst the numerous feathers and scars, two large bumps. They shifted and pulsed under his flesh, seeming to grow and stretch before Knives' own eyes. Then, before he could even think of doing anything, Vash's back exploded.

Vash, who was usually rather stolid about pain, (or, at least, pain in large amounts. It never ceased to amaze Knives how Vash would wail over a paper cut but bare the pain of a bullet wound without so much as a whimper,) screamed in agony.

His tormented howl echoed through the corridors, reverberating in the very bones of the ship. And with good reason for, at that moment, two skeletal wings tore outwards from his back, removing skin and spraying blood.

The gore splattered Knives, who was forced to abandon his brother, to leap back so as to avoid being impaled by the massive wings. It also coated the walls around them, decorating the corridor with splatters of red.

Vash's shrieks of agony faded a little as the wings reached their full capacity, stretching out behind him like the rotting remnants of a dead bird.

He gave a soft sigh and keeled over, lying in the quickly expanding pool of his own blood.

……………………………………………………………………………………..

'Millie!' yelled Meryl, running to sit besides her fallen partner. 'Millie!'

She fiddled desperately with her friend's coat. She couldn't see any blood but maybe they used some different sort of weapon.

'Millie!' she shrieked again, her head in turmoil, her hand shaking. This couldn't be happening, Millie couldn't be dead, she couldn't…

'Ugh… Ma'am… it hurts…'

Meryl could have danced for joy at those few, simple words. 'Millie,' she said, 'are you alright?'

'I… I think so,' replied Millie, sounding as surprised about this as Meryl. 'I'm bruised but I don't feel like I've been shot.'

Frowning Meryl leaned forward to inspect Millie's injury. Sure enough, whilst the skin looked very bruised, there was no sign of any gaping wound.

An idea occurred to her, searching about she finally found one of the bullets the machines had been firing. Examining it the allowed herself a dizzy laugh of relief.

'Look,' she said, showing Millie, 'rubber bullets! They were firing rubber bullets!'

'Oooh,' said Millie, 'that's why it didn't hurt so much! Do you think I could still get some paid sick-leave though, Ma'am?'

'Not a chance,' chuckled the short insurance girl, for once glad to hear Millie talking like this. It was good to simply have here there alive and well.

Her joy and relief was cut short, however, as another tall figure emerged from around a corner. It was Knives and, in his arms, he held the still and bloody form of Vash.

Having stayed with the man for over a fortnight, Meryl had seen him in many states and emotions. He'd seen him grumpy, smug, fearful, angry, pleased, even loving but never had she been treated to the sight of Million Knives Bluesummers absolutely terrified.

He stood there, his skin a greyish hue, his blue eyes wide as saucers. Blood was splattered across both his face and hair. It covered much of his powder blue coat, making it similar to Vash's old crimson garb. It dripped lazily from the equally pale form of Vash, lying limp in his brother's arms, two strange wings blossoming out from his back.

As Meryl watched, feathers started to sprout from the skeletal structure, so brilliant white they almost seemed transparent, almost appeared entirely made up of light.

There was no time for awe though, no time for shock, only for quick, decisive action before Vash bled to death in front of her.

'He… he used his angel arm to get rid of the security robots.' Stuttered Knives, sounding oddly weak and child-like, almost shell shocked from events. 'He used his Plant abilities and… and it increased the process… he… the wings… he's bleeding and…'

It felt as if she'd been split into several different parts. Some of her was shocked, just staring in awe and horror at the scene before her. Some of her was screaming, panicking and some of her, the part of her she allowed to take over, was very quietly and calmly telling her what to do.

'Knives,' she said, 'we need to get Vash somewhere safe and near by, somewhere with medical supplies. Do you know anywhere fitting?'

'Um… there's the Med Lab... but that's too far and it's probably guarded… wait, I know somewhere!'

'Excellent,' responded Meryl, 'take us there!'

Knives nodded and led the way. Part of Meryl wanted to laugh at the situation, the sheer fact that she was able to order the ridged Plant around like this, but she was too busy worrying about Vash to dwell upon it.

'Do you want me to carry him, Mr Knives?' asked Millie politely, stretching out her arms to receive the injured gunman.

'No,' said Knives roughly, seeming to clutch the still form of his brother even tighter to his chest, 'he's not heavy.'

As Meryl followed him, still attempting to remain calm and act fittingly, she couldn't help but think that, complete bastard as he was, at least Knives was loyal to his brother.

……………………………………………………………………………………..

Half an hour later Knives had taken them to his destination. It was near Rem Saverem's room, indeed it appeared to be one of the crew's quarters.

Vash had stopped bleeding somewhat, though is back still oozed a little. The two wings that were now gracefully curled around his shoulders were growing more feathers as she watched. They almost covered the entire bony structure now, white and delicate. He would have seemed almost angelic if it were not for his bloody wounds and the feathers that coated almost all his body. Even his golden hair, drooping down from its usual style, looked oddly feathered. He seemed more like some poor, broken bird than a messenger from heaven.

The room they entered was not one Millie or Meryl had explored before. All the other quarters were dominated by a single bed, yet this had two.

Brightly coloured pictures lined the walls, all drawn in crayon showing various people and things. A few toys were strewn about, there was a small computer console, a little table and, hidden away in a corner, a medical kit.

There was no need to ask who this room had once belonged to.

Knives went straight for the medical kit, only pausing briefly to gently place Vash on one of the beds, which was only just long enough to accommodate his lanky frame. He seemed to have recovered his wits somewhat, returning to his old, arrogant, insufferable self, though he was still pale with shock and suppressed fear.

Millie moved forward to tend to the wounded Vash, mopping up blood and, when Knives returned with the Med-Kit, aiding him in bandaging the wounds.

Numbly, not knowing quite how to apply herself, Meryl gazed around the room blankly. It was strange, she'd knew that she was in the ship Vash had grown up on, but for the first time that fact was thrust in her face. Her eyes fell upon the childish drawings covering the walls.

Most depicted the dark haired woman she knew as Rem, still more showed Vash or Knives themselves, often together. A few had images of the other crew members on them, or had scrawled images of butterflies and trees.

She picked one up off the floor at random, it was quite an advanced drawing, though it was unfinished. Perhaps it had been the last drawn in this room.

It was a strange style, the two figures in the foreground (easily recognisable as the twins,) were depicted rather well. Certainly it was a style one would expect of a teenager, not a two year old. The background, however, was filled only with row upon row of trees, all of which were drawn very simply, just large oblongs of brown crayon with a green blob on top. Then, as she looked closer, she noticed that there was something _behind_ the trunks of the trees.

She rubbed at the waxy crayon with one finger and she began to see a picture behind the picture emerge. Five figures, each carefully sketched in black crayon, men and women standing in a row behind the twins. The SEEDS crew, she knew right away, all happily lined up behind Vash and Knives in Eden. Until they'd been hastily erased, covered over by pictures of crude trees.

'Are you going to stand there all day looking at pictures or are you actually going to help?' demanded Knives rudely. Meryl was so off put she actually dropped the picture and rushed to help him.

'His wings seem to be fully out,' explained Knives roughly, 'but he's still in a lot of pain, and he's coming round. So I'm going to give him some morpheme. You keep him calm whilst I inject it.'

'Why would he panic?' asked Meryl, carefully smoothing back Vash's hair as he tossed fretfully, his soft moans signifying that he was, indeed, awakening.

'Vash hates needles,' explained Knives simply, filling up the syringe with a clear liquid.

'M-Meryl?' Vash mumbled her name, his voice was slow and slurred.

'I'm here Vash,' said Meryl, turning her attention wholly onto him. She placed a hand on his real arm, 'I'm here. Just hold still, Knives is going to give you something to take the pain away.'

'No,' muttered Vash, shaking his head, trying to awaken more. 'No, I don't want it.'

'Come on,' said Meryl, a more business like tone in her voice. 'Don't be a baby.'

'NO!' shrieked Vash, just as Knives was poised to inject the drug. His arm flailed desperately, knocking the syringe and its contents from Knives hand and, before anyone could intervene, it fell upon the floor and smashed.

'Idiot!' choked Knives. 'Look what you've done! Now I'm going to have to prepare some more…'

'Don't bother,' Vash sighed, relaxing back once again upon the pillows, his face almost as white as the linen he lay upon. 'There's no reason to waste that stuff on me.'

'What do you mean Mr Vash?' squeaked Millie.

'Look at me,' groaned Vash, gesturing weakly to his feather covered form. 'It's almost over now. There's not much to save and soon enough there'll be nothing at all. Better you concentrate on getting yourselves out of here, leave me to my fate… It won't be so bad… perhaps I'll see Rem again… I'd like that.'

Meryl found herself shaking her head desperately. This couldn't be happening, she had prayed nothing like this would ever happen again… she couldn't be loosing him like this, not again.

Millie started to whimper, tears collecting beneath her eyes. But it was Knives who took the most active response.

He leaned forward and grasped Vash by his shoulders, ignoring the wince of pain this elicited from his brother. 'Don't you dare, you hypocritical bastard!' he spat. 'Don't you dare give up on me! Don't you dare despair! I won't let you give up because…' He paused and it almost seemed that his voice was breaking, 'because… because I spent a century trying to brake your damned will to survive and I won't let some filthy piece of human trash succeed where I failed!'

Vash smiled up at him serenely. 'You know,' he replied, his voice no more than the gentlest of murmurs, 'in some ways I don't think you'll never change, Knives. I'm glad for that, and I love you for it.'

Knives hissed in rage and let his brother fall back onto the pillows, before gathering up his bloodstained blue coat and sweeping out of the room.

Vash's smile, whether real or merely a mask to hide his pain, did not falter.

'I… I'm going out,' stuttered Millie, before making haste to follow Knives. She might as well of exploded into a shower of gold, Meryl wouldn't have much noticed or cared. All her attention was upon Vash, lying so peacefully in his bed, the blood from his newly bandaged back staining the sheets.

'Are you going to leave too?' he asked eventually.

'Of course not,' responded Meryl, a little quicker than she meant to. 'That would be… unprofessional.'

Vash chuckled softly, 'I'm glad. Even though I know I'm going to die now, I don't want to do it alone.'

'But you might not die!' protested Meryl. 'We don't know that you'll die when you become a Plant and… and besides, we've made progress!'

'Progress?' echoed Vash incredulously.

'Yes,' stuttered Meryl, digging in the pockets of her dress and bringing out the locket she and Millie had found earlier. She'd quite forgotten about it until now.

'See!' she said, 'we found this in… well, we found it. It has a picture of Alexander Adams's inside it and a lock of his hair. We have some of his DNA! So if we can just find out how to reverse this then we can turn you back to normal!'

Vash's gentle smile did not change. 'That's nice Meryl,' he murmured, 'but I don't think there's time. The process has increased, I don't even think I have that many hours left now, let alone days. By the time you've found out how to reverse this it'll probably be too late.'

'You don't know that!' protested Meryl desperately. 'The technology that did this is probably on this very ship! There's still a chance Vash, you can't give up hope! You promised you'd continue! You promised you'd fight to survive!'

'I suppose,' sighed the gunman, his aqua marine eyes gazing at the ceiling. 'I suppose… will you stay with me, Meryl?'

'I always have,' she responded, 'but will you stay with me?'

Vash did not reply, so she simply put her hand, the hand with the silver ring, in his and held on tight, as if the very strength of her willpower could stop him fading away, could keep him there with her.

……………………………………………………………………………………..

Milly found Knives trying to beat a wall into submission which, she supposed, was actually rather mean to the wall. It hadn't done much to him after all.

Eventually Knives stopped hitting the poor wall and leaned against it instead. She stood there very quiet and still as she saw his shoulders begin to shake. She could only watch as small drops liquid fell from his bowed head onto the floor. He was crying. Millions Knives Bluesummers was crying.

It was more than a little disconcerting to see such a strong, proud, almost angry man cry. It was even worse than seeing Meryl cry. She couldn't remember herself feeling so awkward since she'd seen Wolfwood openly sob in front of her.

The memory of her lost love made her heart contract painfully and, acting on sheer instinct, she did what she thought was best.

'What are you doing?' hissed Knives as her arms wrapped around his waist.

'I'm giving you a hug,' explained Millie simply. 'My big brother said that, when someone is sad, a hug almost always helps. It always makes me feel better, anyway. You looked sad so I'm hugging you.'

A harsh bark of laughter escaped Knives throat. 'You're a strange creature, you know that? Get off me, I don't want anyone to see me like this, I will not be weak in front of an insect.'

'I'm not an insect, so don't be mean. Anyway, I don't think you're being weak,' protested Millie, stepping away from him. 'I think that everyone needs to cry sometimes, even people like you and Meryl. Look at Mr Vash, he cries all the time and he's probably the strongest person I know.'

'I'm a little different to Vash, in case you hadn't noticed.'

'Yes well… sometimes it takes more strength to cry and show emotion than it does to keep it all hidden and bottled up.'

Another harsh, bitter chuckle, one lacking any real humour, 'I suppose one of your older siblings told you that one too, yes?'

'Um… actually no,' replied Millie. 'I just made that one up myself. But I still think it's true!'

Knives sighed and shook his head, as if in disbelief. A smile stole its way across his gaunt face, he ran a gloved hand through his hair. At the sight of that smile Mille couldn't help but gasp in delight and clap her hands together.

'What is it?' asked Knives quickly, his voice almost hostile. 'What did I do? What did you find so amusing?'

'Your smile,' Millie hastily explained. 'Just then, when you smiled. It was like I was saying before, you don't often show what you really feel. You hardly ever smile, not _really _smile. You're very much like Mr Vash like that, only you don't even give fake smiles. You're just miserable, evil or cynical all the time. But just then you did smile, really smile! I'm glad… I was wondering if you could… you should do it more often. You've got quite a nice smile really.'

'Well,' grunted Knives, sounding a little uneasy with her casual observation, 'soon I'll have even less reason to smile, if Vash dies…'

'He won't die,' said Millie. 'He can't, not if we keep on trying. We've got to keep on trying, Mr Knives, even if he's given up.'

'But we don't have much time,' said Knives softly. 'and I don't know that we can do anything anymore. I don't know that _I_ can do anything… God knows I'm useless enough at the moment. Damn, I hate this hell hole!'

He slammed his fist against the wall again and it occurred to Millie that, maybe, the wall had done something to him after all.

'You really don't like this place, do you?' she commented breezily. 'Why not? Mr Vash always said that he had a happy childhood, I though he liked his time here.'

Knives sighed and snorted bitterly. 'It wasn't all bad,' he admitted. 'There were good times, but there were bad times too. This place… shaped me. It shaped me for one hundred years and I'm still trying to get out of its shadow. Coming back here, to the place where it all started, to where I made all my mistakes… it doesn't help much. I think… I'm afraid my past has come back to haunt me, girl.'

'Does that mean you know who's doing this, Mr Knives?'

Knives shrugged, 'perhaps,' he admitted. 'Though it seems impossible. The people most likely to have the know-how, the expertise, even the motive are those that lived here, if it is at all possible that one could have survived. They _might _have used the cold sleep chambers but how they survived the crash…' he paused for a moment and sighed. 'I don't know. Rowan and Mary were blasted out into space, Captain Joey's corpse is still in the control room that just leaves… but I can't believe _she_ would ever do this… so it must be… it must be…'

A shadow of something, something strange and dreadful passed before Knives' eyes and for a second the tall man looked fearful and haunted.

'Mr Knives?' Millie prompted, trying to snap him out of whatever worrying memory or meditation he had been plunged into.

'Huh? Oh… yes. Well… I suppose the next course of action is to go to engineering. Whatever did this to Vash might be located there, plus I can probably turn off all the security systems from there too. Anyway, there are a couple of places there I want to check on the way.'

'I'll come!' Millie volunteered happily, glad to see Knives regain some drive, even if his eyes remained troubled.

'Very well,' he said carelessly. 'But the short insurance girl should remain here, to look after Vash.'

'I don't think that you could take her with you if you tried,' said Millie, truthfully.

……………………………………………………………………………………..

Meryl looked up as the Millie and Knives re-entered. Vash had fallen into a fitful sleep, still refusing to take any painkillers.

'Well?' she said, a little harsher than she'd meant, 'what is our course of action?'

'We're going to engineering,' said Millie, 'but you should stay here Ma'am, to look after Vash.'

Meryl nodded, not that she usually took orders from Millie but in this case they made sense. After all, right now her place was besides Vash.

'Will you take care of her?' the question was directed at Knives.

'I will,' the human/Plant affirmed. 'I trust you will take care of him? The changes are increasing… he's getting worse.'

'I know,' said Meryl, tenderly stroking Vash's limp hand.

Knives paused over his brother's sleeping body then, moving away, he picked up something from the corner of the room. It was a large toy, a black plush cat which he tenderly laid by Vash.

'An old teddy bear?' asked Meryl incredulously. It was more than a little strange to think of Knives cuddling up to any sort of toy, even as a child.

'Something like that,' Knives snorted.

……………………………………………………………………………………..

FLASHBACK, 131 YEARS:

_It had been perhaps the first real argument the twins had engaged in. It didn't become violent, of course, but a lot of sulking and some yelling and crying had been involved._

_One day Rem had come into their room to find them both glaring at each other, a soft, toy cat, their favourite play thing, between them._

_It was evidently not a happy sight._

_'Vash, Knives,' said Rem, 'what ever is wrong?'_

_'Knives won't let me hug the cat tonight,' whined Vash, looking up at Rem with adoring eyes. 'He says I'll dribble all over it and make it all nasty. He just wants to put it on a shelf but it'll get lonely if it's just left there! What's the point of having a toy if you can't play with it!'_

_'He'll destroy it Rem!' implored Knives, also turning his eyes to her. 'I don't want to see it fall to pieces or become all mouldy! If it's on the shelf then it'll be safe.'_

_'Mmmm,' murmured Rem, 'that's a difficult dilemma. We want to keep the things we love close to us, but sometimes we love them so much that we hurt them with that love. Part of love is about understanding when to let go, after all, and when to hold on… I know!' She clapped her hands together in glee. 'Vash, tonight you can have the toy, but tomorrow night you must put it on the shelf for a while, and then you can take it down again the night after. Also, if you bring it to me to look over every week, I promise to fix it if any problems come up. Is that alright with you Knives?'_

_'I suppose so,' admitted Knives, a little gruffly. 'But I'm still worried that it'll get damaged.'_

_Rem__ laughed, 'silly Knives,' she chuckled, playfully ruffling his long blond hair. 'Another part of loving someone, or something, is the risks that come with it. The risk that you might be hurt, or even that they might be hurt. It's a dreadful risk to take, but its well worth it, you'll see!'_

……………………………………………………………………………………..

'Look after him,' Knives instructed once more as he and Millie left. Meryl nodded though, in truth, she wasn't entirely sure who he had been speaking to, her or the toy cat.

……………………………………………………………………………………..

'It appears she is more intelligent than I gave her credit for,' admitted Knives, as he and Millie walked down the corridors of the SEEDS ship.

Millie had just been explaining a little of what they'd found, which is to say she'd told him about the locket, that they had found it in Rem Saverem's room and not much else. She was less than eager to tell him the resting place of his foster mother.

Knives sensed that she was keeping something back but, for now, was content to let it lie. He was sure he would squeeze it out of here sooner or later any how. Meanwhile, he couldn't help but relish the surge of hope that had flowed through him when he heard about the locket and the DNA sample they now had. This was defiantly a step in the right direction. He couldn't help but marvel at their luck.

'Oh, Meryl's very smart!' chirped Millie happily. 'Much smarter than I am. You should see her write reports, she can spell really long and complicated words!'

Knives held back a smile at this, he wasn't sure Millie was right about Meryl being the smarter. At first he had thought so too, but ever since the scene with that male human, just before they'd left Vash's home town, when she had shown extraordinary powers of manipulation, he had wondered… Meryl was certainly the most intellectual but Millie seemed to possess a strange, perceptive wisdom which, in Knives assessment, outdid Meryl's intelligence by far.

'Well,' he said, 'at least we know where our adversary obtained Dr Adam's DNA from.'

'True,' said Millie thoughtfully, 'but if he got it from the same place, why did he put it back?'

Knives merely shrugged, though she had a point. It was strange.

So far their trip to engineering had been fairly quiet. It seemed that they had destroyed most of the security robots and, when the odd one showed up, Millie took it down with her Sun Gun, as it had re-usable bullets. Knives was conserving his ammunition, he had only six shots left and he was determined to use them wisely.

Suddenly he paused, the door they were approaching looked oddly familiar… yes… he knew this place.

'Hey,' he said, 'let's check in here.'

He tapped the control key that would open the door and it slid open revealing a very different sight to the one Knives had expected.

When he thought about it, it was only reasonable that it should have changed. After all the entire place had been without life support for as much as a century but still… it was a sad sight.

'What is this place?' asked Millie, stepping into the barren room behind Knives.

'The recreation area,' he explained.

The once lush grass had disappeared entirely, replaced by dark, cracked soil. Part hologram, part real plant life brought in from Earth, the recreation room was now a barren wasteland. The holographic-emitters(1) had shattered under the dreadful cold of space, so that the corners of the room were lost to darkness. The bushes were merely brittle skeletons, the tree which he and Vash had once played and eaten under was now just a barren carcass, black and twisted.

The entire place was utterly dead.

And he, Knives knew, had been the one responsible for it.

'It doesn't look like a very nice place,' commented Millie airily.

Knives only shrugged, 'come on,' he said, eager to be away.

He turned his back and led the way out, his foot was just through the door to the hallway when a dreadful, terrified scream pierced his ears. Millie's scream.

He spun around quickly, his hand going automatically to his gun, muscles ready to fight whatever terror faced him.

Millie was standing, wailing in terror, her hands desperately pulling at her hair.

'Get if off! Get it off me!' she shrieked, tears brimming in her large, pail blue eyes.

Moving quickly forward Knives took a closer look at the situation. Caught in the long, sandy locks of her brown hair was the desiccated skeleton of a spider.

He reached forward and, with smooth accuracy, snatched up the tiny corpse. 'You're afraid of this?' he asked incredulously, holding the dead insect with this thumb and fore-finger, his nose wrinkled up in disgust.

He threw it over his shoulder, getting rid of the gruesome thing, 'it was only a dead insect.'

Millie stopped screaming, her lower lip wobbled a little, more tears brimmed in her eyes and, before Knives could so much as blink, she flung herself at him, sobbing.

'I hate spiders!' she wailed.

Entirely taken aback by the situation, Knives struggled to think about what to do next.

'Um… there, there?' he said hopefully, gently patting her on the shoulder. The entire scene was so surreal he hardy minded the fact she was touching his person. He could hardly comprehend that she would be so horror stricken by such a tiny, insignificant insect and a dead one at that.

At last her bawling cries died away, transforming into soft, sniffling sobs.

'Thank you Mr Knives,' she whimpered. 'I'm alright now, but let's go please!'

'Alright,' responded Knives, leading the way out. Indeed, Millie Thompson was a very strange individual.

……………………………………………………………………………………..

'Meryl?'

Meryl practically jumped out of her skin upon hearing Vash's soft voice. He'd been dipping in and out of consciousness ever since Knives and Millie had left. Last time he'd been awake he'd asked Meryl to remove his artificial arm for him, complaining that it felt uncomfortable.

Now it lay at his side and he looked more like some wounded bird than ever, bandaged, feather covered, tattered wings spread out behind him and with one arm gruesomely absent.

'Yes?' she said, hanging onto his every word. He hadn't opened his eyes and his voice was soft and low.

'I'm scared.'

Those two words did more to worry Meryl than anything else. She was used to Vash the coward of course, used to Vash the bumbling wanderer, but this was different. This was real fear, fear mixed with dreadful despair.

'Why are you scared?' she asked , trying to keep how own fear out of her voice.

'I think I'm losing my mind Meryl,' he replied softly and opened his eyes.

Now Meryl really did have to stifle a scream. His eyes were the same colour they were before, but they were _just_ that colour. Whites, pupils, it had all been obliterated, lost in a sea of solid,

'I don't understand…' she stuttered, wondering what he saw with those new, strange eyes of his. Or even if he'd noticed that they'd changed.

'I can hear them,' he explained quietly. 'My telepathy… I can hear the Plants… my sisters. They're singing to me, Meryl… they're singing so beautifully. I can hardly hear anything else any more.'

'Vash,' said Meryl, trying to sound commanding, realizing almost instinctively the peril. 'Listen to me. Not them, to me! You can't loose yourself in this! You can't! Stay with me, Vash!'

'But Meryl… the singing… it's so lovely…' as he spoke a soft smile, a real smile, stole its way across his feathered features.

'Stay with me Vash! Don't go! Don't go! Listen to me, not them! To me!'

'Shhh… don't talk… I can't hear the singing as much if you talk. I wanna hear the singing…'

'VASH!' she was screaming now, but she didn't care, didn't care about anything except keeping Vash by her side, 'VASH! DON'T GO! DON'T GO!'

If Vash heard her he gave no sign of it, he was lost to the singing of his sisters. Meryl screamed desperately for some hours until, at last, she gave up hope and allowed her head to fall into her arms, despair sweeping over her. She cried for a long time until, eyes burning from tears and throat sore from shouting, she fell asleep.

'This place sure is big, Mr Knives, we must have been walking for ages now!'

'It is,' replied Knives smoothly. 'Eight point three miles long, to be exact. Much of it is just holding area for the stasis pods, where hundreds of humans lay in cold sleep. We're going to see a section of it now, in fact.'

'But I thought we were going to engineering?'

'We are, but there's something I want to check out first.'

Millie frowned but followed her guide. The section of the ship they were in seemed to have been badly effected by the crash. Bulkheads had buckled, rubble littered the floor and occasionally they had to carefully bypass sparking electronics. The light was dim and flickering, the air was cold too, her breath turned into mist before her face.

'Here we are,' said Knives eventually, stopping before a pair of doors. He punched the opening control but the portal did not respond.

'Damn,' he swore and started to pry the door open, a process which was much hastened when Millie came over to help. The door gave way under their combined strength revealing a massive chamber.

Millie shivered as she looked around the dark room, both because she was cold and because the entire place was very spooky. Along the walls, for as far as the eye could see, were cold sleep chambers. They were similar to the one that had contained the body of Rem Saverem, except she couldn't make out any details of the occupants as the glass surfaces were all frosted up.

The place had a horrible feeling about it, like a tomb or a graveyard.

'They're all dead, aren't they?' Millie stated more than asked.

'Yes,' replied Knives, who seemed a little perturbed himself. 'The power loss will have taken out the life support of the sleep chambers also. They wouldn't have had time to even awaken, most probably.'

'That's dreadful!'

'Really?' Knives turned his ice blue eyes towards her. 'I think it's better that way, merciful even. Better they die in their sleep, peaceful, not knowing any pain.'

'But they didn't even have a chance to survive!' protested Millie, 'they didn't have any idea! It's horrible.'

Knives shrugged, 'if you say so. Come on, it's just a little way down here…'

Millie followed him as he led the way through the endless corridor of corpses. She found herself shivering from fear and cold, longing to be out of this dreadful morgue.

Eventually Knives stopped at an apparently random sleep chamber.

'This is it,' he murmured to himself, reaching out with one gloved hand, 'this is his…'

'His what?' asked Millie. 'Who's is that, Mr Knives? Is it someone you knew?'

'In a sense,' replied Knives. 'If I am correct and I do believe I am, this is the sleep chamber of Steve, one of the crew of the SEEDS ship. He was accused of raping another member of the crew and was placed in stasis until he could be tried on new Eden, wherever that was…'

He paused, taking a deep breath, it seemed to Millie as if he was steadying himself. 'Mr Knives?' she prompted, 'why are you looking then? He's probably dead like everyone else here.'

'Yes,' said Knives quietly, 'probably… I know that Rowan fiddled with the controls so that… and even if he hadn't then… but what if..? I have to know if he's gone… if he's really dead… I need to know…'

He brought up his hand once more to the frosted over glass of the sleep chamber and, almost reverently, began to wipe away the obscuring ice…

……………………………………………………………………………………..

Meryl muttered and slowly began to awaken. Her head ached, her eyes felt rheumy, her mouth tasted slimy and disgusting. Something had awakened her, though she didn't know what.

She looked towards Vash, wondering if it could have been him, but he was still lying on his back, his eyes closed, lost to the world.

That thought sent a pang of aching pain into Meryl's chest and she tried to put if from her mind. There was still some hope, Vash wasn't finished yet. If they could find a way to reverse the changes…

A soft sound, the sound of someone stepping on a crumpled sheet of paper, caught her ear. She span round, thinking perhaps Millie or Knives had returned.

She was wrong.

A figure, dressed in a space suit, their head and face covered by a large space helmet, was standing almost directly behind her, a broken, steel bar clutched in their gloved hands.

Meryl hardly had chance to scream before the mysterious figure brought the bar down hard upon her head and she fell into darkness.

……………………………………………………………………………………..

(1) Yep, stolen from Star Trek, but can you think of a better name?

Next Time: It's a frantic chase through the corridors of the ship, and our nemesis is revealed!

And remember guys! Review and check your Review replies on my LJ. (Linked via my profile! See you next time.


	13. Following in the Footsteps of Angels

Chapter 12.

Following in the Footsteps of Angels

The suited figure, their clothing hiding even their gender, stood above the crumpled form of Meryl Strife. It laid down the metal piping and leant over to inspect her small body. As it did so something caught its eye, a delicate golden chain dangling from her pocket. A gloved hand slowly picked up the golden chain and the figure saw that it was a locket. Opening the locket, it gazed at the picture inside it and the small strand of blond hair trapped there.

'Can't have you possessing that,' it muttered and slipped the jewellery into its wide belt.

Now the helmeted head moved to consider the figure upon the bed.

Vash was asleep, but even had he been awake, he probably would have taken little heed of the figure. He was so lost into his Plant aspect now that all affairs of humans were nothing to him. He was enraptured by the singing of his sisters.

The expression on the intruder's feature was impossible to make out from behind the golden mirrored surfacing of their visor. It regarded Vash for a long, long time however and when it spoke there was the slight tremor of emotion behind an otherwise cool voice.

'I thought you deserved this,' it said. 'I mean… if nothing else you deserve to see me… face to face… as it were. I just wanted you to know… I… I'm sorry, for all of this. I suppose it's all my fault after all. I hope things turn out alright, for the both of us. I hope you find forgiveness, I hope part of you… if there'll be anything left, might forgive me. And… I _am _sorry Vash, no matter what else happens, you must know that. I'm sorry.'

With this, and a soft sigh, the figure turned and left the tiny room, pausing only to fiddle with the door's lock before hurrying down the corridor and out of sight.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Steve had not aged well.

Knives sneered at the skeletal face peering at him through the glass of the sleep chamber. Strange to think that such a wretched piece of rotting meat had once been the nightmare of his existence. Strange to think he had been the thing he had loathed the most in the entire universe. Strange to think that this had been the man who'd shaped him, broken him, made him.

And now he was this. Pathetic.

But he was dead, gone for ever. Knives' first victim and the only one which Knives could honestly, truly say he had no regrets about. Perhaps that was wrong, perhaps he should have felt guilt or sorrow at conspiring to take this life, at setting up the mechanisms that had killed Steve. As it was he just felt a cold, hard ball of pain and rage at the pit of his stomach. A horrible feeling that was only a little negated by the warm sensation of satisfaction. The bastard was definitely dead.

'Mr Knives?' Millie's high pitched voice brought him back to reality.

'I'm done,' he said. 'Just checking up on an old friend.'

'Oh… well then don't you think we should get to engineering?'

'Yes,' said Knives. He was about to step away when a compulsion occurred to him. He paused and, with one, last look at his dead nemesis, he spat at him.

'Rot in hell,' he muttered under his breath, taking some final satisfaction at seeing the sad of his saliva dribble down the glass front of the case, dripping down Steve's skeletal face.

Then, ignoring Millie's shocked expression, he started down the corridor. If he was correct then there was another exit down the way, it should take them quite a bit closer to engineering.

They walked down the corridor for a little while and were nearly at the exit when a small beeping sound made both of them jump.

'What is it!' cried Millie, unhooking her Stun Gun and readying it.

Knives was reaching for his own gun also when he remembered something. He smirked at his own paranoia. 'It's the communicator,' he said, reaching into the pockets of his coat and taking out the small, pen-like device.

He pressed a small button on its side and put it to his mouth. 'What is it?' he asked sharply.

'K… Knives?' it was Meryl's voice, or it sounded like that anyway. But it wasn't her usual, crisp tones. It was slurred and halting, 'Knives… Millie please… get down here I…' the voice faded away.

Millie's eyes widened as she heard these words, she was obviously worried.

'What is it girl?' Knives snapped, also concerned. (If only, he told himself, for his brother. He didn't care a bit for the short insurance woman. Of course not. Certainly he didn't. Not one bit...)

There was no answer from Meryl, though and after calling several times Knives could only presume that she was no longer in a position to answer.

'We have to go and help!' cried Millie, turning back.

'Hold on!' said Knives, 'we need to get to engineering! We need to-'

But he might as well have been talking to a brick wall, Millie was already running away from him, down the cold corridors.

Knights sighed and thoughtfully ran a hand through his hair. It felt a little sticky in parts, having been splattered with Vash's blood earlier, when the wings had come through.

On the one hand he needed to get to engineering, needed to see if their nemesis was there, to gain control of the ship, to perhaps see if the equipment which had created the nano-bots was there. On the other hand, however, Millie was running off without him and would probably get lost in short order. There was no telling what had happened to Vash or, for that matter, for Meryl.

At length concern for his brother outweighed the need for control and, muttering ruefully under his breath, Knives followed Millie, hoping to catch up and guide her.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

They returned to an odd and disturbing sight. Meryl was lying on the floor, a small amount of blood smeared on the side of her head. Vash, however, was sitting up in bed, facing ahead his eyes settling straight on them, though there was no hint of emotion or even recognition there.

Millie was so shocked at the sight she had to hold back a little scream, for Vash was almost completely unrecognisable. Now entirely covered with white feathers, two splendid wings burgeoning from his back, his form was entirely alien. Two, solid, shiny aqua-marine eyes glared at them blankly, his ears had elongated into points, his very features seemed a little harsher, a little sharper than they had before. His hair had drooped from its upright position and now seemed more like strange, golden tendrils than anything else. His hands, or rather hand, had developed small claws but, most disturbing of all, he was glowing.

It wasn't very much, only a very slight, white luminescence, but it was noticeable enough to make Knives shiver with dread. Vash had almost completed his transformation, he was almost entirely Plant now. They had run out of time.

He gently reached out with his mind, trying to detect Vash's thoughts, to communicate. He might as well have tried to converse with a dog. Vash's mind was a whirl of instinct and emotion, his thoughts were buried deep, lost within a tumble of distance and madness. He wasn't even trying to reply to Knives contact, instead he seemed lost in conversation with his sisters.

'Mr Knives!' called Millie, who had gone to Meryl's side. 'I think Meryl's been hit on the head, can you pass the first aid kit?'

Knives nodded and reached over for the small package just as Meryl started groaning, coming back to consciousness slowly and painfully.

'Ma'am, what happened?' asked Millie.

'I got knocked out,' grumbled Meryl. 'Someone attacked me. They were wearing a space suit so I didn't see their face. I managed to come around long enough to contact you but I passed out again.'

'How do you feel Ma'am?' Millie enquired, fussing round her partner.

'Crap,' responded Meryl dryly, 'the world won't stop spinning.'

'I'll have a look at you,' said Knives, striding forward and crouching down besides her. 'You might have some mild concussion.'

Swallowing his distaste for the situation and reminding himself that this was the prudent thing to do, he carefully put his hands to her head and began to sort through her hair, hoping to get a look at her injury. A strange noise distracted him from his task.

Vash was growling.

Or rather, he was making a strange, chittering noise, a noise not quite describable. He'd started glowing differently too, there seemed to be a reddish tint to his luminescence, his features were twisted into a different expression, also. For the first time since they had entered the room, he was looking right at Knives.

'Vash?' murmured Knives tentatively, reaching out for his brother.

What happened next occurred almost too fast for even Knives to follow. Vash's head dived forward and, in one clean movement, he bit his brother.

Knives cried out in agony and wrenched his hand away, bringing it to his chest, Vash snarled around a mouth full of blood, his teeth had jagged points.

Grabbing both Meryl and Millie, Knives rose to his feet and quickly back-peddled out, hastily exiting the room and pushing the locking mechanism. The door slid shut and he leant against the hallway wall, panting and clutching his wounded hand close to him. He could hardly believe what had just transpired.

Millie, who'd taken over the task of tending to Meryl, looked up at him, a worried expression on her open face.

'I'm fine,' gasped Knives. 'It's not that deep, though I could do with it being disinfected.'

'Meryl will be alright too,' chirped Millie, passing Knives the med-box. 'She wasn't hit all that hard.'

'It felt damn hard enough,' muttered Meryl, slowly raising her hand to her head and wincing. 'But what the hell was all that about? Why did Vash attack you?'

'I don't know,' responded Knives as he sprayed anti-bacterial spray upon his wound. 'I've no idea why he was so hostile towards me… beyond the obvious, but now he's a Plant he should have appreciated that.'

'Well, Plant superiority complexes aside, what did you find in engineering?'

'Nothing,' grunted Knives. 'We didn't get that far. We had to come and rescue you.'

'Well then,' continued Meryl, trying to ignore the bitterness in Knives' voice, 'what's our next plan of action? I suggest we go after the person who knocked me out.'

'Why?' snapped Knives, 'what did he do?'

'The locket,' explained Meryl. 'It's gone. I felt it as soon as I've awoken. They stole the locket with Mr Adams hair in it, we need to get that back or we'll have no comparable DNA to restore Vash with.'

Knives looked at her with new respect, partly because she'd said words like 'comparable DNA' with complete confidence, (as if she knew full well what she was taking about, even thought she probably didn't,) and partly because she got down to business incredibly quickly.

'I agree,' he found himself saying. 'This person is the key to everything, if we catch them then we can finally get some damn answers.'

'But how are we going to catch them?' asked Millie. 'We don't know where they are now.'

Knives frowned, considering this question, but an idea soon came to him.

He slowly sat down, positioning himself in a cross-legged pose.

'What the hell are you doing?' snapped the short insurance girl. 'Now is no time for a rest!'

'I'm not resting,' replied Knives coolly, 'I'm getting ready to use my telepathy.'

'You're what!' Meryl's voice was practically a shriek. 'Stay out of my head you freak!'

Knives, who'd been trying to concentrate, glared at her. 'If I wanted to enter your mind,' he snarled, 'then I would have done so long ago. If I could find it, that is.'

Meryl raised a fist, obviously intending to strike him, but lowered it quickly, undoubtedly reminding herself that this was Knives she was talking to, not Vash. Vash might put up with any light physical abuse she could lash out, but if she so much as touched Knives the wrong way he might well have her liver for dinner.

'Fine then,' she said, 'what is it you're doing?'

'I'm going to seek out our adversaries mind and track him, find out where he… or she is.'

'You can do that?' Millie's voice was full of wonder.

'I can try,' replied Knives, wishing he could sound more certain. Despite rumours to the contrary, his telepathy wasn't that strong or that skilled. He could communicate with his brother easily, and with humans and Plants too, if the whim took him. He could defend himself from most telepathic attacks, could even 'nudge' people certain ways, reinforcing ideas and emotions to make them act in a different manner than usual, but that was about the limit.

This, however, was not a trick he'd ever attempted before. He'd managed to track Vash by using telepathy, of course, but they were linked. To find a random human, who's mind he probably had never even encountered before… that could be tricky.

Still, he could probably just use a process of elimination, there were only about four other life forms on the ship, Vash and the still living Ship's Plant included.

Closing his eyes he reached out with his mind, trying to feel the tell-tale hum and buzz of thoughts and emotions.

The first minds he encountered were those of Meryl and Millie. For a moment he was tempted to see if he could go deeper, probe further. He'd like to do that simply to spite Meryl and to discern her real intentions towards his brother. As for Millie… she was just so interesting that he'd give his right arm for a peek into her head. He didn't though, such an attempt would take a lot of time, concentration and energy and right now he could afford none of these.

So he moved on, stretching out further with his mind. He encountered the now alien thought of his brother, far more Plant than human. He reached out briefly to touch that mind, to stroke it tenderly with tendrils of telepathy, but Vash was having none of it. He brought up his own telepathic shields and Knives was rudely rebuffed.

At any other time he would have been hurt by this, but now he could only feel a vague sense of puzzlement. He'd deal with that later.

Further his mind travelled, finding the instinctive essence of the still living Plant the ship. The Plant that was fuelling the life-support and all other necessities that allowed them to wander this place safely. Knives sensed that she was tired and, what was more, there was something else… different about her. Her emotional state was unlike any he had encountered before. Once more he was tempted to stay, to explore this strange sensation, but he did not have time.

He pushed his thoughts outwards, let them fill the ship, felt every corner, every cranny, desperately seeking his target. Then, when he'd almost given up hope, he found it!

Faint, strange, but human, it was moving not far away, hovering around a corridor, not moving too far away. It was human, he felt sure of that, and it was… it was worried.

Knives smiled, 'got you,' he murmured.

'I take it you've found them?' asked Meryl dryly.

'Of course,' replied Knives, standing up and stretching languidly. 'Now we'd better hurry up and catch them, I'll try to keep track of their thoughts.'

'Alright,' said Meryl, tightening her derringer laden cloak around her. 'Let's go, there's no time to spare!'

'Are you sure you're alright Ma'am?' asked Millie, 'you took a nasty hit to the head after all.'

'I'll be fine,' Meryl dismissed, 'now let's go! Knives, you lead the way.'

'Yes Ma'am,' responded Knives sarcastically before hurrying down the corridor, the two women hot on his heels.

In their eagerness to catch their quarry, to find the person behind all this, they neglected to check on Vash. Indeed, if they'd not been in such a hurry to get out of his room when he'd attacked them, they might have noticed that the locking mechanism of the door had been tampered with.

They might have realized, indeed, that the door was closed… but it was _not_ locked.

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

Meryl's legs ached, it seemed like they'd been running down the twisting, near identical corridors of the SEEDS ship for hours. Though she wasn't about to complain, it was wearing her down. It was all very well for Knives and Millie, with their long legs but she, loathed as she was to admit it, was having to work twice as hard to keep up.

And that was another thing, she was becoming increasingly, perhaps irrationally, irritated by they way Knives was 'leading' them.

It wasn't the fact he was physically leading the way, that was necessary, but more and more Meryl had found herself deferring to him, asking his opinion. She'd not considered it important at the time, (what with Vash's transformation she'd had other things on her mind after all,) but it was bothering her now.

After all, of all the people in their little group, Knives was the _least _suitable to lead and it would be irresponsible of her to let it continue.

So, when Knives skidded to a halt in front of two, large, automatic doors and started to give orders Meryl was not going to lie down and take them.

'He's through here, in one of the labs,' he said. 'We should go in, all guns blazing, aiming to wound of course. When he's down then we can question him.'

'I don't suppose,' the short insurance woman remarked dryly, 'that the phrase, 'shoot first, ask questions later,' is familiar too you? That sounds like a perfectly chaotic plan, Mr Knives. Apart from anything you're forgetting about the damage we'll do to the surrounding area.'

'Don't you ever think of anything besides your stupid job?' snarled Knives. 'I doubt that this bastard will be filling out any insurance claims any time soon anyway… or not by the time I've finished with him.' The corners of his mouth turned upwards a little in a wicked smile. 'Property damage,' he continued, 'is not our main concern.'

'Really? What if one of our bullets hits some vital piece of equipment? What if we inadvertently cause an explosion? Is that our concern?'

Knives visibly winced at Meryl's cool return, he'd obviously not considered this.

'You're just like Vash,' sighed Meryl. 'So concerned with your immediate aims you don't see how you effect everything else. I did not let Vash order me about, and nor will I allow you. We do this my way first.'

'Oh yes?' said Knives, honey dripping from his sickly sweet tones, 'and what way would that be, then?'

'We go in and try to talk with our adversary first. See if we can use reason here. Then, if they don't cooperate we can use force.'

Knives' eyes narrowed, he seemed to be assessing the situation. On the one hand he would probably hate to be ordered around by a 'mere' human. However, Meryl knew full well that Millie would follow her rather than Knives and Knives probably knew that also. He didn't know the nature or power of their adversary and probably would not be willing to go in alone. He'd want them around, if only as human shields.

'Alright,' he grunted, sounding almost sulky, 'but I'm keeping my gun out.'

Meryl shrugged and, bracing herself for whatever lay beyond, she opened the door.

It slid open to reveal a smallish, octagonal room with a large computer console dominating the centre and another door directly opposite. Over this console a figure, dressed in a space suit, a helmet concealing their entire head, was at work.

As soon as they entered the figure's head snapped up, Meryl couldn't make out the expression behind the dark visor but she guessed they were surprise.

She quickly moved to take advantage of their shock, wishing only that she had some peace making gift with her, like a box of doughnuts.

'Good day,' she said smoothly. 'I am Meryl Stryfe and I've come to ask you to-' she got no further as the figure, grabbing a small, dark box from the console, wheeled around and set off at a run.

Knives was soon in pursuit, even letting off one of his bullets (which missed,) but the fleeing figure had exited by the opposite door and though he surely didn't have enough time to press the closing or locking mechanism, the door slammed shut behind him. Knives nearly ran into it, he punched the metal of the door in frustration and quickly turned his attention to the locking mechanism besides the door, tearing open the panel and fiddling about with the insides.

'He ran away,' remarked Millie, sounding rather surprised. 'I think he was scared of you, Mr Knives.'

'Oh really?' retuned Knives sarcastically. 'I wonder why?' YHe spared his attention from the door long enough to flash a truly evil grin at the girls

'Well,' said Millie, seemingly oblivious to all implications, 'you do look a bit frightening, with all those blood stains.'

It was true, Knives was still covered in splatters of Vash's blood. It had dried on his skin, hair and coat and was letting off a rank smell.

'I shouldn't worry about that, Millie,' said Meryl, striding forward, 'Mr Knives is used to having Vash's blood on him, aren't you?'

If looks could kill then the look Knives shot Meryl would have rendered her so much space dust.

Luckily his attention was diverted as the door mechanism gave way under his ministrations and slid open.

'Come on,' he growled. 'We've no time to loose!'

He ran off down the corridor at full tilt, Millie and Meryl close on his heels. It seemed that he still had some sort of telepathic lock on their target, for he knew exactly what corridors to turn down, which way to go.

They must have been running somewhat faster than their quarry, for they soon caught sight of the suited figure again, dashing down corridors desperately.

Once again, however, a door slid shut in front of them. Knives rushed forward and tore at the locking mechanism, quickly fiddling with it so that the portal slid open again in short order.

'How's he doing it?' panted Meryl as they started the chase again. 'He's not even stopping to press the locking mechanism.'

'Didn't you see that box in his hand?' replied Knives. 'I think it's some sort of remote control, he's tapping into the ship's systems via that somehow.'

'How many of the systems do you think he can access like that?'

'I don't know, we'll just have to find out, won't we?'

Meryl repressed the urge to gulp nervously; she hardly relished the concept of the life support being switched off at any moment. Their quarry, after all, had a space suit.

A few moments later they'd caught up with the suited figure for a third time. Meryl was pleased to note that this time she could see the heavy rise and fall of a chest through the space suit. Whoever their enemy was, he or she was evidently not used to such strenuous exercise.

The figure was so tired, in fact, that it nearly tripped up over its own feet. Catching his or herself against a wall, the figure stumbled to a halt and turned towards them, the visor was steamed up with condensation.

'Give it up,' snarled Knives, striding forward, his gun drawn. 'Drop that controller now or you won't have an arm to hold it with.'

The figure took a few steps back, its hand still holding the black box of the controller Knives raised his gun but, before he could fire, the suited figure pressed a button on the controller and a red ray, a laser bolt, suddenly shot through the air, narrowly missing the advancing Knives.

A quick look to the side showed that the red laser had not come from the control box or the figure at all, but from the walls. Two guns, one on each side, were jutting out of the walls, both were trained on Knives.

'What are they?' asked Millie.

'Part of the security system,' explained Knives, staying very still and keeping his eyes trained on their adversary. 'He must have tapped into them.'

Millie stepped forward so that she was next to Knives, 'are they deadly?' she asked.

'Extremely,' replied Knives.

'Right then,' said Millie, a very severe and determined expression on her face. Meryl's heart sank.

Meryl had never met Millie's mother, though she had of course heard a lot about her, (after all, family was one of Millie's favourite topics of conversation,) but she always though that Millie had probably inherited this expression from her. It was stern, unbending, the kind of no nonsense frown which would be perfect for dealing with mischievous or misbehaving brats but not, perhaps, for murderous megalomaniacs.

So it was that Meryl was not entirely surprised when Millie strode forward, passed a gob struck Knives, (who attempted, unsuccessfully, to grab her and pull her back,) and towards their enemy.

She ignored the guns completely, even though they followed her movements, she seemed to take no account of their deadly power.

'You,' she said in her high pitched voice, striding purposefully towards the suited figure, 'are being very bad! And silly! You don't want to go round hurting people, do you? And we don't want to hurt you. We just want to help Mr Vash. So you put down that box right now!'

With every word, she came a little closer, with every stride Meryl expected the guns to fire, reducing Millie to so much pulp… or whatever it is they did.

But this didn't happen. the suited figure merely stood there, fingers hovering above the control box, watching as the tall insurance girl advanced. By the end of her little speech Millie was so close to the figure she could have almost reached out and taken the control box from their hands.

At the last moment the figure bottled out, however. Spinning on their heel they ran, Millie fast in pursuit and Meryl and Knives, not quite believing what had just happened, also giving chase.

Their target ran through another set of doors, this one larger and more serious looking than any of the previous. As Meryl and Knives looked on in horror, the thick doors began the close.

Millie was close enough to the retreating figure that she managed to slip through the doors. But by the time Meryl and Knives had reached them they'd slammed shut.

'Hurry!' yelled Meryl as Knives once more set to work on the locking mechanism.

'This one will take longer,' rasped Knives. 'It's one of the high security areas. The locking control mechanism is more complex.'

'I don't care!' shrieked Meryl, not even heeding that she was panicking. 'Millie's alone with that monster! Who knows what will happen to her! Get the door open now!'

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Just a short way from the door Millie skid to a stop. She was in yet another corridor but this time she could see no sign of the suited figure. She was just wondering what could have happened when she felt something press into the small of her back and a soft, muffled voice besides her ear whispered, 'please, don't move. I don't want any trouble but I will shoot you if I have to. Please sit down and allow me to knock you out, I'll try to do it as painlessly as possible, I promise.'

Millie paused for thought, working several things out in her head. The suited figure must have dived to the side after running through the door, and she must have run right passed him, allowing the figure to get besides her. It was very clever but what else could she have expected? She considered the options ahead of her, thinking hard, and eventually she came to a reasonable conclusion.

'No,' she said firmly, 'I won't.'

'Excuse me?' the voice sounded rather taken aback.

'I won't sit down,' clarified Millie. 'Or do anything you tell me to. In fact, I think it's you that should sit down, you're probably rather worn out and it might take a while for Mr Knives and Miss Meryl to get through the door.'

'I'll shoot you,' threatened the figure, the pressure on the small of her back increased.

'No you won't.'

'How can you be so sure?'

'Well,' replied Millie, 'for one thing I don't think you've got a gun there, I think you're just using your finger. For another I don't think that you're the type to go round killing people. If you were you'd have locked the doors in the shuttle bay, or used real bullets in the Security Robots, or electrified Knives properly, or even killed Meryl when you knocked her out. But you didn't want to. In fact, I don't think you can kill at all, or you'd have shot me with those lasers when I walked towards you before. I think that you're just like your son. I think you're a pacifist... I wonder… do you think he inherited that from you, Professor Adams?'

NEXT TIME: Why is Alexander Adams alive? What is the meaning behind his actions? Why is he doing this? The truth is revealed… though certain parties may find out that the truth is a dangerous and dreadful thing!

And don't forget to review and check your review replies at my LJ!


	14. Strange Progeny

Chapter 13

Strange Progeny.

The pressure disappeared from Millie's lower back and she turned to see the figure step away, both hands harmlessly in the air.

'Alright,' the voice said, as his hands moved to take the helmet off. 'You got me.'

With the helmet off Millie Thompson finally got a good look at the one she and her friends had been chasing for so long now.

Professor Alexander Adams looked much the same as he did on the photograph she'd seen in Rem's locket. He was a tall man, almost as tall as Knives and Vash. His hair was cut in almost the exact same style as Vash's, upswept and spiky. It was the same brilliant blond, also, though the sides were marred be streaks of white. Age also showed on his skin which, unlike the timeless canvasses of the twin's flesh, was marred with small wrinkles. Millie would have guessed he was in his late thirties or mid forties, a bit older than he'd been in the photo. The shape of his face, with its slightly angular edges, was perhaps more similar to Knives than to Vash, though his wide, expression-filled eyes seemed to soften the harsh planes. These eyes, however, were not the aqua-marine orbs of Vash the Stampede. They were the bright, intense sapphire of Million Knives, quick, intelligent and perhaps a little cutting.

'If I might ask,' he continued, 'how did you guess it was me? I am supposed to be dead, after all.'

'Yes,' agreed Millie, 'but I got to thinking… we know that all the other crew on this ship are dead. But it had to be someone from the Old Times, from Earth. Someone who'd know all this stuff, who'd know about what Mr Vash is and how to undo it. Someone who'd be able to get hold of your DNA. Well, only the crew could get all that, the crew and you of course. So it must be you, Professor Adams. It's just like my big brother says… once you've discounted all other possibilities the final possibility, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.'

'Your big brother is a very well read man,' remarked Professor Adams, 'and call me Alex, please. So… what next?'

'Huh? Oh!' Millie suddenly remembered herself, she reached behind her and swung round her Stun Gun so that it was pointing directly at Alex Adams, who put his hands up in the air quickly.

'Uh… you're not going to shoot me with that, are you?' asked Alex, nervously.

'Only if you don't cooperate,' replied Millie, doing her utmost to sound threatening.

At that moment the locked door behind her slid open, Meryl and Knives burst in, weapons at the ready.

When they saw the scene in front of them they both stopped, mid stride, astonished.

Meryl was so amazed, indeed, it seemed she could be knocked over with a feather. Knives, on the other hand, merely frowned, his face crumpled in thought as he no doubt tried to place the man in front of him.

'Oh!' said Millie, 'hello Ma'am! I got him! I got Professor Adams!'

Now it was Knives' turn to be taken aback and, indeed, the image of the usually calm, superior Knives with his jaw hanging open was one that Millie would remember for a while.

'Mil-Millie,' stuttered Meryl at last. 'How… how could you! How could you run so recklessly off into danger! You might have been killed!'

Millie blushed, feeling rather upset at the berating, she'd thought she'd be praised for capturing Professor Adams. 'I'm sorry Ma'am,' she replied, 'but I was sure he wasn't going to hurt me. Professor Adams doesn't like killing people, do you Professor Adams?'

'Um, I hate it,' the tall man agreed. 'I'm a pacifist. Even the sight of blood makes me rather queasy, I'm afraid to say.'

'Well,' snarled Knives, also seeming to recover, 'you're not a very good pacifist. Why are you killing my brother?'

'Killing?' echoed Alex, rather taken aback by this accusation.

'You're nano-bots are turning him into a fully fledged Plant,' shrieked Knives, seemingly incensed with rage. 'Without a bulb he won't survive!'

Alex blinked then, to everyone's horror, he laughed.

'Oh no, no,' he said, 'you are all wrong! The nano-bots aren't programmed to turn him into a full Plant! They'll allow some of my DNA to remain to keep him corporeal and in this dimension. It wouldn't fit the plan at all to have him just slide away into another dimension!'

'Plan?' echoed Knives, incredulous, 'what plan?'

'_The_ Plan,' repeated Alex, and now his blue eyes were wide and sparkling so that, for a moment, the similarity between him and Knives was more pronounced than ever. 'The reason why this ship is here. The reason why you are here. The plan, my boy, to create Eden!'

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The Male Plant (for now there was so little human left that it could no longer be truthfully thought of as Vash,) stirred from its nest amongst the sheets.

For the last few hours it had been enraptured by the song of its sisters, a gentle, telepathic melody which passed between them.

The song bore little in the way of information, or even emotion, but it was audible, a steady, beautiful hum in the background of his thoughts.

Now, however, he'd been noticing a change in the music. It came from a song close to him… very, very close.

It was the Plant Sister that lived upon this ship, the only one close enough to have deep telepathic converse with. (An interesting translation note, the reference to Plans as Sisters or Brothers exists only to adequately explain the emotional and physical ties that bound them to each other. Such terms had little or nothing to do with blood, and everything to do with emotional relationships. Blood relations were known as Brood Bonds hence Plants from the same parent were known as Brood Brothers or Sister.) The male Plant probed it gently for information, not understanding the nature of its agitation.

When the Plant minds met, information and instinct was crossed and analysed until an explanation, a solution was arrived at.

It was a basic thing, after all. This female Plant was old but it remembered enough to recognised the mind it touched. It knew what it wanted and the Plant that had once been Vash was only too happy to oblige.

Of course, there was the problem of its Brood Brother, he might interrupt or cause other difficulties.

The thought of Brood Brother sent a strange mixture of emotions surging through the male Plant, a strange conflicting set of feelings which weren't suited at all to the usual, simplistic Plant existence. It pushed them all away, they disturbed it, and instead concentrated on leaving the confines of its prison.

Its wings were sore and cramped, it did not think it was ready to fly with them quite yet… not quite yet…

So tearing aside the sheets it tumbled out of the bed, still adjusting to weakened limbs. Now, however, in Plant form, with the Nano-bots job complete, the energy drain wasn't quite so much. It staggered around the room, using the walls to support itself until it found the door.

Something familiar ticked at the edges of its memory, something about opening the blockage in front of it…

It reached to the side and thumped mindlessly on the small panel there, the door slid open, revealing the wide open corridor.

A smile twisted the mouth of the male Plant, it was free…

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

It was five minutes since Alexander Adams had made his grand announcement and now the four of them were in a small lab, just off the corridor.

As soon as he'd made the statement Knives had, quite simply, picked Alex up by the front of his space suit (ignoring his pleading protests,) and dragged him to the first room they came across. Here he'd dumped him on the nearest stool and stood back, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed.

Neither of the insurance girls did anything to stop him, partly because they saw no reason to.

'Well,' growled Knives savagely, 'I want an explanation. Now.'

'A-an explanation for what?' enquired Alex, looking a little frustrated but still keeping his composure for the most part.

'All of it!' snapped Knives. 'Why you did this to Vash! What the hell it has to do with making Eden! Everything! I will not be left in the dark any longer, I want answers!'

'So do I,' agreed Meryl. 'I might not be like Mr Knives, but I want to know what you've done to Vash as well.'

'Me too!' piped up Millie enthusiastically.

Alexander Adams looked from one determined face to another. 'You don't know?' he muttered, 'you haven't guessed? Don't you know why you're here?'

'That's why I'm asking you,' snarled Knives.

Alex gave a small smile, 'I never supposed…' he murmured. 'I thought Rem might have told you, I thought that might have been the thing that… but never mind. I should have guessed that she wouldn't, probably didn't think you… Well, I know better. Alright then, if you want answers I'll give them to you, it's not as if you don't deserve them after all. But I should warn you, it's a long story.'

'I have the time,' said Knives.

'Though not too much,' added Meryl. 'The sooner _you,'_ and she gestured towards Alex with one of her derringers, 'return Vash to normal, the better.'

'When you've heard this story,' said Alex, quietly, 'I'm not so sure you'll want me to return Vash to normal… it is, I think you'll see, for the greater good. Not to mention justice… but I'll start.'

Professor Alexander Adams cleared his throat, paused the thought, and began.

'I want you to think back, far back into the past. Before what you term as The Great Fall, before the SEEDS program was even conceived, back on to Earth, somewhere in the early twenty second century. Picture Earth now, it's no longer as lovely as it once was for Mankind have ravaged it. In our struggle to survive, grow and even evolve we have used up almost all its natural recourses, polluted our environment to such an extent that it beginning to be uninhabitable.

'In those days things were getting desperate, indeed mankind might have been facing extinction if it were not for one, extraordinary stroke of luck and genius. A group of scientists, who were experimenting on the further breaking down of matter, split the Quark, an infinitesimal piece of energy. The breaking of this tiny particle did something no one expected. It opened a gate to another dimension.

'From this dimension something escaped, something came through. The first Plant Angel. It did not survive long in our dimension, but it lived long enough for the scientists to run some tests, to discover what it was and how to stabilise it. They repeated their experiment and another Plant Angel appeared, this time, however, they were able to stabilize it, to build a bulb around it with the appropriate conditions that it did not fade from our dimension.

'The amazing abilities of the Plant Angels soon became apparent. Not only could they generate huge amounts of raw energy but they could, to an extent, manipulate matter itself to make objects apparently out of thin air! The benefits of this to Earth were obvious. The experiment was repeated again and again, Plant Angels in massive numbers were drawn into our dimension where they were used to power cities, create items, in short they saved humanity.

'For a short while things were good, Earth became almost like Eden again, but once again we over used our resources. If pushed to exhaustion a Plant Angel will die, and we… not knowing the full nature of our creations or their limitations, sadly pushed many to their deaths. Nor did we realize that these creatures too were a limited commodity.

'For a while it appeared simple enough, just keep on splitting Quarks to create gates that would draw through the Plant Angels. But we were not always successful. At first it used to be that around 90 of the time we'd draw through an Angel but, as time went on, this percentage lowered. Soon, more often than not, the attempt to attract a Plant Angel would be fruitless and, as opening a gate in itself was very costly, in both economic and energy terms, they realized that using Plant Angles like this was now only a short term solution.'

'But Professor Adams,' interrupted Millie, ignoring the annoyed looks Meryl and Knives threw her way, 'why didn't the gates attract so many Plant Angels after a while?'

'Good question!' said Alex, sounding pleased she had asked. 'For a start… what they were doing was like… running round a small room filled with butterflies, trying to catch them with a net. At first it was easy, there were plenty of butterflies, but the more they caught the fewer there were, until it seemed there were none at all.'

'Well,' said Millie, 'I worked on a farm when I was younger, and whenever we began to run out of animals like… chickens, we'd just wait for a bit and let them breed, so that the stock would replenish. Why didn't they do that?'

'Excellent analogy,' said Alex, sounding even happier, if such a thing were possible. 'But you see, you're forgetting one, important thing. We only ever drew through chickens, not roosters.'

'Huh?'

'Haven't you ever wondered why all Plant Angels are female? You see, for some reason, it was extremely rare to summon through a male Plant Angel and, on the few times when it was done successfully, they never survived long. They seemed much more vulnerable to environmental differences than the females. We can only conclude that there were fewer of them and that part of the reasons the Plant Angel's did not naturally restock was because their sources of Females had become so rare.

'Of course, a few of the Plant Angels that were summoned were pregnant and we discovered that it was perfectly possible for us to rear and transfer baby Plant Angels to other Bulbs. But this was no solution. To create more Plant Angels, to revitalise the only source of reliable energy the Human race now had, we would have to breed them. And that is where Project Adam comes into the picture.'

If the attention of both Insurance Girls were not entirely upon Alex and his story, they might have taken some interest in Knives at that moment.

He had pressed himself against the wall, his eyes had become wide, his pupils were now pinpricks against the whites. His skin had become almost translucent it was so pail and he was shaking from head to toe. Connections were being made, his brain was going into overdrive. Sometimes a high IQ can be a curse.

'No,' he whispered, to low for anyone else to hear. 'No… that can't be right… it can't!

'I discovered,' continued Alexander Adams, oblivious to Knives' distress, 'that human and Plant DNA were partly compatible, at least when mixed in a lab. My aim was quite simple, to create a Male Plant with enough Human DNA that it could survive in our dimension, at least long enough to mate with a female and create offspring. Thus the resource would be rejuvenated. That, in a way, was genesis of Vash and Knives.'

'So,' said Millie thoughtfully, 'Mr Vash and Mr Knives are kinda like mules… only they're here to be fertile. They're kinda… kinda like studs. You made… them… to…'

'Breed,' finished Meryl when her partner's soft voice faded into silence. 'Knives and Vash were created as… breeding stock…'

The room fell silent, plunged into shock. Alex sat with his arms between his knees, he looked grim and rather sorrowful.

Then, with an almost supernatural suddenness, Knives moved.

It was with terrifying speed, one moment he was standing against the wall, the next he was rushing at Alex. Before the scientist could so much as blink he was in the grasp of the half Plant. Knives held him by his throat, pulled him up so far that his feet dangled a few inches above the ground.

'Knives!' screamed Meryl, 'what are you doing!'

Knives, if he heard her, paid her no heed. His eyes were wild and staring, his skin white with fury, he seemed almost insane with rage.

'It's not true!' he screamed, 'you lie! You lie! You filthy, little, piece of human trash! I'll KILL you! We are superior! We are not just for breeding! You lie! You're lying! You-'

His rant was cut off when Millie, also moving fast, hit him hard in the head. He let go of the half suffocated Alex, (and luckily too, for he was turning a decidedly dangerous shade of blue,) and fell to the floor, clutching his head. He was still conscious but he was badly stunned.

'Are you alright, Sir?' asked Millie, bending over the shaken Alex.

'I think so,' he replied, 'I… I'll live.'

'Don't mind Mr Knives,' soothed Millie, 'he's got a self esteem problem.'

'Really?' whimpered Alex.

'Oh yes, his is much higher than anyone else's.'

'Professor Adams,' said Meryl, 'perhaps it would be better if we continued this explanation another time. Right now we only need one simple answer… will you return Vash to normal?'

Alex opened his mouth to reply but he was interrupted by Knives, who'd recovered somewhat and was slowly raising himself off the floor.

Millie took a step back and fingered the straps of her Stun Gun, Meryl's derringer was no longer targeted at Alexander Adams, but at Knives. He still looked wild and angry, but now he was grinning, a sort of insane, hysterical grin.

'No,' he hissed, 'no, let him finish the story. I want to know it. I want to know it all.'

'I'm not sure…' began Alex, his eyes glued warily on Knives.

'I want to know!'

Alex still looked reluctant.

'Tell me the damn story you son of a bitch!'

Knives' harsh words echoed through the room. Alex jumped and both insurance girls tightened their grips on their respective weapons.

'Alright,' sighed Alex, breaking eye contact with Knives, as if he couldn't stand to meet his gaze. 'I'll tell you the rest…'

'I suppose,' he began, 'I might as well tell you all of it. You see… you weren't the first. When the project began I worked a lot with Rem Saverem, an amazing woman. She… but you knew her… she was the only donor for the Human DNA… aside from myself… she was infertile you see, so she thought it might be her only chance to have any children. Not that we thought… even she… We made a mistake.'

Before he continued Alex let out a heavy sigh, as if what he was going to say next would pain him greatly.

'You must understand,' he continued, 'we didn't know the correct balance of Human DNA to mix with the Plant. We guessed fifty/fifty would be a good number, we knew there would be some ethical risks but… Plants are… how could we know what we'd create would be sentient? We thought such mental capacity would be lost!'

'What happened, Professor Alex?' prompted Meryl gently.

'We did the experiment, fertilised a Plant with a mixture of human and Plant DNA and… it had a child. Her name was Tessa.'

'A sister!' Millie's voice was filled with high pitched delight, even as Alex's voice was low and horse, 'Mr Knives and Mr Vash have a big sister!'

'Had,' intoned Alex, 'she… wasn't what they wanted. She was female.'

'What do you mean?' asked Knives, his voice equally dull.

'The project was funded by the government, they weren't interested in a female crossbreed. They just wanted a male Plant, so as to make more Plant Angels. I suppose Tessa was female because Rem was female… it just happened that she was unlucky enough to be born first. It was… amazing. I never thought she'd look so human, too human. Rem said, almost from the outset, that it was wrong, that she wasn't just a Plant. I didn't listen at first but later… later. When she held my hand, when I held her in my arms, this delicate child I'd created, this inhuman, perfect angel… I knew… I'd made a life. A sentient life, a child. I tried to talk to them about it, to the higher ups, I tried to explain but they just wouldn't listen! They just didn't see what she was. They probably thought she was some sort of monster. She was just a failed experiment to them, a thing to be despised and studied. Do you know what they did to that sweet little girl? Do you know what they did to Rem's baby? They dissected her alive… filled her full of drugs and chemicals, killed her from the inside out… it was horrible. She just withered away like a flower deprived of light. And I was the one responsible.'

Alex's voice, which had become steadily quieter and more broken throughout his confession, faded away entirely. For a moment there was only a horrified silence then a sound, a dreadful, terrifying sound came.

Knives was giggling.

Both Millie and Meryl had seen and heard some petrifying things in their lives, especially since Vash the Stampede had come onto the scene, but nothing could quite compare to the eerie sight of Million Knives giggling. His skin white with shock and rage, his limbs loose and waving, pupils and irises dilated to pinpricks, his teeth almost seeming fanglike in the dim light. He looked utterly and completely insane.

'Wouldn't dear Vash find it interesting,' he tittered, 'wouldn't he like to know that his beloved Rem let precious humans dissect her own little girl. Wouldn't he just love to know how they murdered his big sister!'

'It wasn't like that!' cried Alex, sounding riled for the first time, 'you don't understand! We never knew… we didn't know. For a while we were both a mess. Rem was wracked with guilt of course, and I… I… didn't think I could carry on either. We wanted to die, then.'

'How dreadful!' whispered Meryl.

'Too damn straight,' agreed Knives bitterly, 'dreadful you're still alive!'

Alex ignored them both, 'it wasn't over yet though,' he continued. 'There was still my own DNA which had been inserted into another Plant. Soon the Tessa incident would be repeated all over again and this time… this time it would be my child that was murdered. I wasn't going to let that happen. Rem helped me, we found a way to swap round the fertilised Plant for a normal Plant, and we placed the real one on a SEEDS ship, the ship Rem would hopefully be travelling on. She was in control of the sleep chambers, you see. Of course, it didn't all go well. The government discovered I'd been tampering with the Plants, they suspected I was up to something so they came after me. I was less than eager to be caught of course, so I made the best decision possible at the time. I faked my own death.'

'I didn't even tell Rem. All I could do was leave her a letter saying that I loved her and we'd meet again in Eden. I don't know if she understood what I meant, I hope she did... but she probably just thought it was a suicide note. As she worked in the Cold Sleep department, and as I'd also worked on the SEEDS project a little, I managed to do some tampering. I built a secret room, complete with cold sleep chamber in this very ship…. I even arranged for it to be powered by one of the spare Plants. Originally I'd intended to be awoken shortly after we'd found Eden, I'd take on a new identity and re-find Rem and my new half Plant child… or children as it turned out. Sadly, with the Great Fall the systems were disrupted. I was very lucky to survive at all, I suppose. As it was I remained in deep sleep until the moon was rocked by some sort of explosion, a meteorite perhaps, which disrupted the systems enough to awake me.'

'That was Mr Vash,' put in Millie helpfully. 'A few years back he accidentally put a crater in the centre of the fifth moon!'

'Accidentally?' snorted Alex incredulously. 'Well… I should have known it was him. It seems he's been doing rather a lot.' His lip twisted into a bitter smirk, 'when I awoke I of course did some research I…' he paused and his smile became genuine, if a little sad, 'I never guessed it would be twins…'

He turned towards where Knives was still huddled. 'I understand if you don't like me,' he said slowly. 'But… I have seen some of the records of you as children. Watching those… reading the reports, it made me both the happiest and saddest man in the universe. I'm only sorry I couldn't be there… perhaps if I had been…'

Alex drew another shaky breath, 'I suppose there were signs even then that things were going wrong, I should have seen it in the behaviour patterns but… then, I'm no psychologist. Still, when I finally managed to get the shuttles working properly, when I finally reached Gunsmoke and discovered what he'd done… what my own son had done… I… I could never have guessed that he'd become such a monster. If I'd known, for on moment that Vash the Stampede would become such a killer I… I don't know what I would have done.'

'Vash?' muttered Meryl, 'A killer?'

'Of course,' whispered Alex. 'He is the one with the sixty billion double dollar bounty on his head. He's the one that destroyed two cities. Hell, he was probably responsible for the great fall. I know that he's quite the gunslinger, and wasn't Captain Joey shot in the head? There's no excuse for that. I know you might not approve of this, I know that it is wrong, but it is the best option. It is justice. Vash is a monster. I don't believe in killing, I don't think its right to take the life of another, but this way not only is Vash's rampage finally stopped, but some kind of amends can be made. I've made so many mistakes in my life, it's time I tried to reverse some of them. Vash is, sadly, one of those. Even you must see that?'

There was complete silence for a moment until, once more, Knives began to laugh. A horrible, cold, nightmarish laugh.

'You don't do your research very well, do you?' remarked Millie innocently, ignoring the Plant's psychopathic giggling whilst Meryl's brow furrowed in anger and concern.

'W-what do you mean?' asked Alex, looking baffled and worried.

'What the stupid spider is saying,' sneered Knives, slowly struggling to his feet, 'that you got it wrong. Vash didn't do any of that! He's innocent!'

'No…' he muttered, 'how could it be… how could I…'

'Don't worry about it, Mr Alex,' said Millie, somehow managing to remain cheerful through out all this drama. 'It an easy mistake to make. A whole lot of bounty hunters thought just the same! In fact, Ma'am didn't even believe Vash was Vash for AGES. Isn't that right Ma'am?'

Despite herself, Meryl blushed at the memory and turned all her attention on the scientist. 'What has been done has been done,' she said, (hoping, all the while, that Knives would just remain where he was and not do anything stupid.) 'But it's not too late to stop this. Now you know that Vash is innocent will you… can you reverse this?'

Alex was silent, his brow was creased in thought, his chewed his lower lip contemplatively. 'Yes…' he said eventually, 'yes… I can reverse it.'

'Excellent,' said Meryl, feeling hope rise in her heart once more. 'Then let's hurry up and-'

'But I won't.'

Meryl's eyes widened, 'what?' she said, incredulous. 'But… but why? Vash is innocent… he…'

'Maybe he is innocent,' interrupted Alex, 'but consider this… by this one sacrifice we can save humanity! Perhaps it's wrong, but if Vash is allowed to mate with a Plant Angel then their union will create new life. For the first time in over a century there shall be new Plant Angels! Maybe even more male Plant Angels? Isn't that worth the sacrifice? I'm sure he'd think it was.'

'No he wouldn't,' said Millie, in a matter of fact voice. 'He'd say that we shouldn't have to sacrifice anything. He'd say that there's always a path without sacrifice, if you look at things the right way.'

Alex paused a moment, indecision evident within his large, expressive blue eyes. Then those azure orbs hardened with steely determination once more.

'No,' he said again, 'perhaps I'm wrong but… but I will somehow repair the mistakes of the past. I will save humanity. I will create Eden!'

'Even if it means making a mistake in the present?' asked Meryl, solemnly. 'Even if this Eden will be created on the blood of a good, innocent man? Your very son?'

Alex seemed to be weakening once more, he opened his mouth a few times, perhaps to say something, but he was interrupted by Knives.

'Idiots,' he hissed, 'a very pretty scene, three humans discussing round and round about the fate of their filthy race. You don't get it, do you Professor Alexander Adams? I was the one that did it! My sentimental, brainless buffoon of a brother has always protected and argued for your miserable race! I was the one that did all those things! I was the one that killed Captain Joey! I was the one that caused the Great Fall! I was the one that tried to irradiate this filth that is humanity! And, most shamefully of all, I was the one stupid enough to be persuaded that there might be some measure of goodness, some inkling of grace, some iota of decency within your filthy race! I was nearly persuaded by my damn brother to spare you! Well, that's going to change!'

With each word he took a step forward until he was almost toe to toe with Alex.

Meryl raised her gun warningly but Knives took little notice. He locked gazes with the horrified Alex, who was shaking his head and muttering weak denials.

Knives grinned viciously at the man's fear and, with the speed of a striking viper, he lunged forward.

Meryl, who'd been targeting him with her derringer all this time, let off a shot, aiming at his arm. But Knives was too quick even for that. He dodged the bullet easily and kicked out with one leg, catching Meryl and sending her sprawling.

She gave a gasp of pain as she hit the floor but tried to get back up, hoping she'd be able to intervene again before Knives strangled Alex.

When she looked up, however, she saw that Knives wasn't trying to strange the shocked Professor this time, instead he held him against the wall by the front of his space suit. What worried the small insurance woman more, however, was that in one hand Knives had his gun and he was pointing it right at Alex's head.

Knives was nose to nose with his genetic father, when he spoke spittle flew out of his mouth, onto Alex's face.

'Listen to me you blood sucking, moronic insect! I will not allow you use him like this! You are going to reverse what you did to Vash! You are going to make him as he was and you are going to do it now!'

Alex, showing a greater courage than Meryl would have expected from a scientist, glared back at Knives. 'Or what?' he asked, 'you'll kill me? You won't be able to turn Vash back to normal at all then and I'm willing to die if it means humanity can live in Eden.'

Knives grinned horribly, 'you really don't get it, do you?' he hissed, sounding amused. 'You really haven't worked it out? I won't kill you. And I certainly don't give a damn about any human Eden. So, here's the deal…'

The gun swung round so now it was pointing right at Meryl, but Knives did not turn away from Alex. Not that he needed to, if he was half as good a gunman as Vash then he could probably shoot Meryl in the heart from fifty paces, blindfolded.

'Here's the deal,' Knives started again. 'You will return Vash to his previous state, you will stop this sick excuse for an experiment, you will give all your information to me and you will do it now. If you don't then I will make you watch while I kill them-' the gun jerked in Meryl's general direction, 'and after that I will kill the entire human race, one by one if needs be. And I will make you watch. How does that sound as a way to create Eden?'

'Y-y-you couldn't…' gasped Alex.

'Oh yes I could,' assured Knives easily. 'I have the power… or I could gather the power easily enough and now I have the will.'

'He's telling the truth!' squeaked the ever perceptive Millie, sounding truly terrified, 'he really is! I can see it, he means it! He'll do it!'

'But,' said Meryl, feeling ice cold dread seep through her veins, 'you promised Mr Vash that you wouldn't kill anyone! Not for a year! And the year isn't over yet.'

Knives shrugged, 'I don't think Vash is in a condition to appreciate that promise right now,' he sneered.

'I don't believe you!' gasped Alex desperately, he seemed almost close to tears, 'I can't believe anyone could do that!'

'Wanna bet?' asked Knives, his grin only widening,

Millie whimpered and the dread in Meryl solidified horribly, she'd not felt so scared since Vash's fight with Legato. For, looking at the scene, she couldn't help but come to one horrifying conclusion.

Million Knives was back.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

NEXT TIME: How many Plants does it take to screw in a light-bulb? And will we find out before Knives kills everyone?

Also: Don't forget to check out your Readers Replies on LJ! Now complete with Fan-Art Linking! (Does it get any better?)


	15. Angel Song

Chapter 14: Angel Song

The room was fixed in a strange tableau. Millie stood in one corner, ridged with fear and shock, her hands covering her mouth. Meryl was half lying, half sitting on the floor, her gaze glued on Knives and Alex. Alex, shoved up against the wall, his expression truly terrified and Knives leaning forward, his face mere centimetres away from Alex's, an almost demonic grin twisting his sallow features.

The scientist was ridged with fear, his body trembled and his eyes were so wide it seemed they'd just roll out of their sockets.

Then, suddenly, he slumped and turned his gaze away from Knives. 'Fine,' he muttered, 'I'll do it. But please… don't hurt anyone.'

Knives let go of the front of Alex's space suit, allowing him to drop to the floor. 'We'll see,' was all he growled.

Meryl let out the breath she'd been holding, feeling immense relief was over her. For now disaster had been averted, Knives wasn't going to kill them straight away at least. Never the less, he still looked less than sane. His eyes were still glaring and he still seemed massively pissed.

Which, Meryl reflected, he had some reason to be. Knives, for all he many other faults, had always fought for the freedom and good treatment of Plants. To discover he had been born for the sole purpose of continuing the tradition of Plant slavery. To discover his purpose in the world was as mere breeding stock… that must have been an awful blow for both his pride and his morals.

She wondered if he would recover for it, or had he slipped back into his old homicidal ways for good? The thought sent a shiver of pure dread down Meryl's spine. She soon grasped hold of her emotions once more, however. Panicking would do no one any good.

The fact remained that, for now at least, Knives main priority seemed to be returning Vash to normal, which was just fine by Meryl. Apart from anything, Vash was probably the only one capable to taking Knives down if it came to it. The only person who could perhaps talk him out of continuing his genocidal crusade.

Having said that, if Vash heard Alex's story then… well, Meryl wouldn't blame him if he actually joined forces with Knives!

'Well then,' she said, getting to her feet. 'What do we have to do?'

Alex reached into a pocket of his space suit and withdrew a small, silver device.

'This is a scanner I've been using to monitor the progress of the nano-bots I infected Vash with,' he explained. 'By looking at this I can monitor their progress, I can check they're not doing Vash any harm. And, most importantly of all, I can control them.

'So you can switch them off?' asked Millie.

'That would be no good,' Knives snapped. 'They've already done the damage, their job is complete. Vash is almost a full blooded Plant now.'

'Exactly,' agreed Alex, still sounding a little shaken. 'But I think I can program them to reverse the changes, to rebuild my DNA once more within Vash. That should return him to his previous state. But I don't think it will be easy.'

'Why not? It sounds pretty simple.'

'Well… for a start there's the actual programming. That'll be tough enough and probably has to be done through a computer interface… so you can actually see what you're doing. Then the actual signal has to be delivered at very close range. It practically has to be next to the skin, in fact.'

'Don't worry about that,' said Knives grimly, 'I'm-'

But they never found out what Knives was for, at that very moment, the tall man gave a gasp of shock and clamped his hands to his ears. He fell over, his face a vision of pain. Meryl wondered what had happened. Had something actually snapped, physically snapped, in his brain?'

'What is it Mr Knives?' asked Millie.

'That sound,' grunted the Plant, his eyes squeezed shut. 'Can't you hear it?'

'I-' began Meryl, but suddenly she _could_ hear something. It was a strange sound, to be sure but it was made all the strange by the fact it wasn't just a sound. It was like a feeling, she could actually sense it in her mind. It was like a string of high pitched notes, almost musical but not… quite…

'Whale song,' murmured Alex, his own eyes wide, his head cocked to once side. 'It sounds almost like whale song.'

Meryl wasn't sure what a wail song was, but she didn't like the sound of it one bit.

'What is it?' she asked, hoping it wasn't as dreadful as it sounded. Her answer came not from Alex, but from Knives he seemed to have recovered. He face was no longer screwed up in pain, anyway, but he didn't make any effort to rise from the floor.

'It's a mating song,' he grunted. 'A Plant mating song. The female Plant here has sensed Vash and is calling to him.'

'How do you know that, Mr Knives?' asked Millie innocently.

'I… I just do,' muttered Knives and Meryl was surprised to see that his pail face suddenly took on a slightly crimson blush.

'It's effecting you, isn't it?' she said, trying to hold back a smile. 'You are part Plant, after all.'

Knives grumbled something unintelligible and drew his legs up a little closer to his chest, probably trying to hide any sight of his arousal until he had it under control. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Meryl couldn't help but be amused. She made a mental note that, if things ever calmed down, she'd tease him about it unmercifully.

'That's amazing!' cried Alex, his own face lit up with joy. 'A Plant Mating song… the first ever heard by human ears! That means-' his face suddenly fell, 'oh dear…'

'What?' asked Meryl.

'Well, it probably means that Vash is heading towards the Plant chamber right now, getting ready to mate.'

'But he can't be!' protested Millie. 'We locked him in his room!'

'You really think a locked door will stop him?' sneered Knives.

'Actually, it isn't even locked,' Alex put in. 'I… ah… tampered with the door mechanism when I visited.'

Knives threw his head back and laughed, though Meryl was oddly relieved to hear that it was more an angry, despairing laugh rather than the mad giggling of before.

'Of course!' he chuckled ruefully. 'Of course it wasn't locked! It would be far too easy if we knew where Vash was...'

'We do know where it is,' said Alex. 'Or where he's heading for, at least. He'll be on his way to the Plant chamber to mate.'

'So we're running out of time then,' said Meryl solemnly. 'We need a plan of action.'

'Yes,' agreed Knives and he began to slowly rise to his feet once more, probably having gained some control over his anatomy. 'You and Alex should go to the Plant Chamber and be ready to use that device to reprogram the Nano-Bots. I and Millie shall go to main engineering and work on the actual programming. I presume we can send the signal remotely to the device?'

He addressed this question to Alex who nodded. 'If you use one of the interfaces then yes… there's a file I used for the actual programming. Just rout the coding through the internal scanners and it'll be remotely programmed into the device. It should activate automatically then.'

'Very well then,' said Knives. 'I need you to give me a few more instructions, then we can-'

'Hold on,' said Meryl, 'I want to talk to you, alone…'

She grabbed Knives by the arm and began to pull him a little way away from the other two. But Knives stood as firm as a rock, he glared at Meryl and once more she saw the flames of madness rise within him. He pulled his arm out of her grip, looking truly revolted by her touch. Never the less, he took a few steps away from the others, following her to a more secluded corner of the room.

'Well?' he snarled.

'Why do you want to do it this way?' asked Meryl. 'Why do you want me and Alex to attach the device? Surely he should be working on the programming and you should be trying to attach this thing to Vash? I doubt he'll be very cooperative after all, and you're the only one here who's a physical match for him.'

Knives sighed and gritted his teeth, 'I can't,' he hissed angrily. 'The song… it's effecting me. I'm in control at the moment but if I get too close to the female Plant…' the threat hung in the air, Meryl could easily guess where it led.

'Then why me?' she asked. 'Millie's strong enough so that-'

'I trust you more than I trust her,' snapped Knives, cutting her off. 'I know you have a vested interest in Vash and I know that if Professor Adams tried to go back on his promise then you'd be willing to… persuade him. I'm not sure Millie would.'

Meryl found herself nodding, as much as she hated to admit it, it did make some sense.

'Alright then,' she said stiffly. 'I'll make sure Mr Adams does his part. But if you put one hand on Millie…'

'Why the hell would I want to?' scoffed Knives bitterly.

A few minutes later, when Knives had obtained some final information and instructions from Alex, they parted ways. Meryl and Alex moving towards the Plant Chamber, Knives and Millie towards Engineering.

Both groups moved quickly along the corridors, the seriousness of their mission apparent.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Meryl couldn't help but feel a little strange, walking side by side with the person who'd caused all this mayhem. Vash's father, no less.

Privately she was boiling over with questions for this tall, enigmatic man. Questions about the old world, about the time before The Fall, about Rem, but she kept all this inside. She had a duty to do, a job and she needed to concentrate on that first and foremost.

She might have asked one of these questions anyway, had Alex not posed a queried of his own.

'Would he really do it?' he asked suddenly. 'Knives, I mean. Would he… did he… do all those terrible things? Is Vash innocent?'

'He is,' replied Meryl, keeping her tone even and businesslike, 'and he would. Knives is a very dangerous individual, you've probably only heard some of what he's done, and I doubt you know half of what he's capable of. It was a small miracle that Vash managed to stop him and a major miracle that he managed to turn him from that path.'

'A path he's now returned to,' said Alex desolately. 'Oh… what have I done!'

Meryl's heart tightened at the note of despair in the scientist's voice. For one it struck a familiar cord, he sounded so much like Vash when he had been depressed.

She would have liked to spend some time comforting him, but time was not something they had that much of.

'Well,' she said briskly, 'you should have tried to talk to Vash first, before you outright condemned him shouldn't you? Still, I don't suppose you were to know, your heart was in the right place and it isn't too late to reverse what you've done. _If _we hurry.'

'Yes,' sighed Alex, 'I know… I just can't believe Knives would… why did he do it? What made him into what he is now?'

Meryl shrugged, trying to work out the twists and turns of the corridor. She wished Alex would move a little faster, he was the one leading after all. He needed to be the one leading because she sure as hell didn't know the layout of this place.

'I don't know,' she said distractedly. 'I think it's to do with the other Plants. I think he wants to free the Plants, he doesn't like how we... how humans use them.'

'But why?' asked Alex, sounding truly puzzled. 'Why does he want to free the Plants?'

'Well, you've got to admit it is a little wrong,' said Meryl. 'Using them as slaves like this. I know we need them to survive here but still…'

'Slaves?' echoed Alex incredulously. 'My dear, Plants are hardly slaves. They're not even sentient for a start.'

'But Knives says-'

'Knives is a product of his upbringing,' interrupted Alex.

'What exactly does that mean?'

Alex paused and sighed, rubbing the back of his head. 'It means,' he clarified, 'that both he and Vash were brought up by Rem. That's bound to be where they got that notion from.'

'He learned it from Rem?'

'Of course!' Alex smiled wistfully. 'I loved that woman,' he murmured, 'more than anything in this universe. But, as much as I feel for her, even I must admit that Rem would argue for the humanitarian rights of a pebble if it had large, cute eyes. Plants are no more intelligent than the average dog. Or that's what all the tests say, anyway. To argue that they should be somehow set free is like arguing… that you should set all your Thomas's free. Sentimental mush. I'm as much against the cruel treatment of Plants as the next man, but we need them to survive and as far as I'm concerned it's better a few Plants suffer than millions of humans die.'

Meryl blinked in shock, trying to process what he had just declared. 'Well, if you say so…'

'I do!' proclaimed Alex. 'Perhaps if I explain this to Knives he'll see reason.'

'I wouldn't bet on it,' muttered Meryl, 'the words 'Knives' and 'reason' rarely go hand in hand… the same tends to be true of Vash also, come to think of it…'

Alex gave a little snort of laughter. 'I can hardly believe they're my sons,' he said, 'well, they certainly haven't inherited that from me. I'm a very reasonable man.'

'Of course you are, Mr Alex,' replied Meryl, trying to keep all trace of sarcasm out of her voice. 'Now, if you could please hurry up and get us to the Plant Chamber...?'

'Oh? Ah, yes of course. Follow me!'

They jogged down the corridors until they arrived at a large set of doors. A set of doors that looked like it had recently been forced open. Marks which looked like claw marks dented the metal, as if something had prized the sliding doors apart and they'd simply closed after it.

Alex and Meryl exchanged worried glances, it was apparent that Vash had arrived before them.

Alex moved to the side and hastily tapped in some sort of code on the locking mechanism, the doors slid open revealing the spacious area that was the Plant Chamber.

It was a humungous, circular room, lined with a few consoles and, at the top, a high balcony which ran all the way round. In the centre, of course, was the Plant itself… or rather herself.

She was pressed against the glass, her mouth open in eerie song. Meryl could hear the melody in her very bones now. It seemed to synchronise with her flesh. It was almost uncomfortable… yet almost pleasurable in the same way.

What caught her attention more than anything, however, was Vash himself.

He was also pressed against the glass, all be it the other side from the female. He seemed to have come into his full Plant heritage. His wings flapped gracefully behind him, they'd propelled him half way up the Plant Bulb and, as Meryl watched, he rose some more, staying near the curving class of the Bulb, his single hand scraping the surface. His entire body was covered in feathers, his ears had developed delicate points, his eyes were solid aqua and his hair had fallen from its usual broom headed style, now it lay like tendrils or tentacles around his narrowed face.

What was most remarkable, however, was the fact that he glowed.

Not a slight, pail white glow, not even the bright golden glow which most usual Plants emitted, his was a brilliant crimson which lit up the entire room, painting it a deep, bloody red.

'Spectacular…' murmured Alex from the side. 'He's looking for a way inside, I think… trying to enter the Bulb so he can mate…'

'Is there a way in?' asked Meryl, unable to turn her head away from the spectacle of the flying Vash.

'Yes,' replied Alex. 'Up at the top of the Bulb there's a valve, if it… I mean, if he works out how to open it then he could get in…'

'Can he work out how to open it? Given dog like intelligence?'

Meryl hadn't meant to sound so snappish, but if Alex detected her ill temper he didn't show it.

'Possibly,' he said, 'or he'll just lose his temper and shatter the glass.'

'Either way,' said Meryl, drawing out a gun from her cape, 'we need to stop him quickly.'

'What are you doing?'

'I'm going to shoot him,' she said, trying to keep her voice steady. 'Don't worry, I'm only going to aim for his arm.'

'But you can't!'

'I must. I don't want to hurt him any more than you but-'

'No,' protested Alex, 'I don't mean that. Listen, if you miss then your bullet might pierce the Plant Bulb. Or, worse still, it might shoot through one of the walls. This room is on the very outside of the ship, if you pierce a bulk-head then you'll allow vacuum in! You'll kill us all!'

'Damn!' swore Meryl, lowering her derringer. 'What do you think we should do then?'

Alex sighed and looked down at the small signalling device he'd use to transmit the new instructions to Vash's Nano-Bots. 'We're just going to have to hope Knives and Miss Thompson manage to complete their task quickly.'

Meryl nodded, though her heart sank dismally.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Millie Thompson was not sexy.

She wasn't, as far as Knives knew from all human definitions, even that beautiful. She might have been considered pretty, true, but beautiful...?

Her eyes were not large and lovely, her hair was not silken and soft, her body was not voluptuous and she was certainly not swaying her hips in an inviting and sensuous manner.

He had to keep reminding himself of this.

It wasn't all as easy to do, however, not with the female Plant's siren song ringing in his ears and mind.

He gritted his teeth and did his utmost to concentrate on the screen in front of him and not Millie's perfectly shaped breasts.

'What are you doing now Mr Knives?' Millie asked sweetly. No; not sweetly, just high… yes… high and squeaky, that was her voice, not gentle and tinkling. Not tinkling at all, there was nothing appealing about her voice, nothing at all. She was a spider, a filthy, disgusting, blood sucking spider. She wasn't a prospective mate, she wasn't pretty. He didn't want to be with her, he didn't want to touch her, he didn't want to kiss her, he didn't want to throw her down on the floor and-

Knives took a deep breath, steadying his hormones, and feeling rather glad that his blue coat, blood stained as it was, hid some rather excited parts of his anatomy.

'I'm working on changing the programming of the Nano-Bots,' he replied, his hands running over the controls. 'This is a picture of Vash's human DNA,' he pointed to one display, 'and this is his Plant DNA.' He pointed to another. 'Finally,' he said pointing to a third screen, 'this is a picture of them both combined, as he was before. We have to reproduce that pattern… however…'

'Yes?'

'Every time we add in another code it effects the rest of the code. It's like a Rubix Cube. I can handle some of the chemical and mathematical problems but even I can't always work out or predict what will effect what. This might take a while.'

Millie, much to his gratitude, remained silent for a while, he tried to forget she was there, tried to forget she even existed, but the lower parts of his brain begged to differ.

'You know,' she said eventually, 'it doesn't look too difficult. Once you've done all that weird mathematical stuff… it's a bit like chess. Just looking at where all the pieces fit. See, I think this one,' she pointed at one chemical coding, 'fits here.' She put her finger on another place in the pattern.

Knives blinked, that made sense… he did as she instructed and, surely enough, it fitted perfectly.

'You seem to be rather skilled at this,' he said, 'here, aid me.'

Millie nodded, ignoring the rude phrasing of his request and moving forward to stand by his side.

They worked together for a while, he passing instructions to her, she helping him figure out the appropriate commands, giving a new perspective on several of the DNA patterns. They made quite an effective team though, Knives thought, it would have been still better if he could keep more than half his mind on the task. As it was much of his concentration was taken up by the just trying to keep down his mating urges. And, what was worse, his willpower was fading. Perhaps it was exhaustion, perhaps the call was getting stronger, maybe it was something else entirely, but he was finding it increasingly difficult to ignore these compulsions.

He was finding so difficult, in fact, that when Millie moved in front of him, to get a closer look at the displays, he couldn't help but move forward slightly and breathe in the scene of her hair.

She smelt like leather and gunpowder, like freshly baked bread, sand and, oddly enough, crushed grass.

In short, to his hormone crazed senses, she smelt simply divine. He moved in further, taking in more of her fragrance, burying his nose in her soft, fine locks.

'Um… Mr Knives?' squeaked Millie, pausing from her work, her eyes widening adorably. 'Mr Knives, what are you doing?'

'I… I… I'm…' he was finding it almost impossible to get words out for some reason. He knew he should break out of this, knew this wasn't the time or the place for such escapades. Knew, further, that she was a human, the race he'd just sworn to kill, the race who had enslaved all Plants, the race which killed and murdered, the race which had created him and Vash for, of all things, breeding stock! He knew he shouldn't be doing this but… but… the mating song of the Plant seemed so loud and Millie was so beautiful, so soft, so sweet, so warm…

With a groan Knives once more buried his head in her hair, allowing his hands to ghost the curves of her hips. Millie's face, he was sure, would be a picture of confusion and surprise. The poor, sweet girl had probably never encountered anything so forthright… or at least that's how she acted.

'M…Millie,' he murmured, trying to get the words out. 'I… the song is effecting me I… I can't… please, I'll give you instructions but please… just… just keep with me, alright?'

'Um… alright Mr Knives,' said Millie and she resumed work.

Knives did his best to also continue passing on instructions, to work out the equations in his head, but it was far from easy. It was, in fact, almost impossible.

Indeed, he was beginning to think that, whilst it was all well and good to stop Vash from an unwanted mating, who would save _him? _

……………………………………………………………………………………………

'Damn it!' swore Meryl. 'For once in her life, can't Millie be early for anything!'

Vash had reached the top of the Plant Bulb by now and seemed to have settled amongst the machinery there, where, Alex had informed her, the hatch way to the interior of the bulb was located.

Meryl bit her lip as she saw the Plant Vash fiddle around with the machinery, no doubt trying to find out how to open it. Alex had said that, as an almost full blooded Plant, he had the IQ of the average dog, that Plants were unintelligent, but then again…

Alex gave out a cry of alarm. Vash seemed to have loosened something, pulled something out of the inner workings of the machine.

'What is it?' asked Meryl.

'The hatch!' cried Alex. 'I wouldn't have thought it was possible but… but he seems to have opened the bulb!'

As Meryl watched Vash heft the lid of the hatch and carelessly fling it down onto the floor, her world seemed to crystallise about her.

_So_ she thought, _this is it. He's going to go into a Bulb and mate with his one of his kind. You've lost him. He's gone. All that time of wanting to say you loved him, all that waiting and following, all those trials and this is it. Done. And just after he proposed to you too… what a… what a…_

'Bastard,' she muttered and before Alex could stop her she drew out a derringer from her cloak.

'NO!' he yelled, thinking she was going to shoot, but she didn't. Instead she flung the small gun out, towards the Plant Vash, who was just leaning into the Bulb.

Her aim, as ever, was nearly perfect. It hit him square in the back of his head, not enough to knock him out or cause any meaningful injury, but surely enough to get his attention.

His head snapped upwards and he turned towards her, his inhuman aqua eyes narrowed.

Having attained his attention, Meryl took the opportunity to lug a second derringer at him. The small gun hit him right in the forehead, drawing out a low scream of pain. The glowing aura that surrounded him changed hue, from bloody red to a strange, golden orange. His lips curled back, revealing sharp, needle like teeth, he pushed off from his place and began to hover slowly towards her.

'Uh oh,' muttered Alex, 'I think you made him a little upset.'

'Good,' growled Meryl. 'Good! I'm glad! And you know why? Because your son is an utter bastard!'

'W-well,' stuttered Alex. 'Um… I kn-know I wasn't exactly married b-but-'

Meryl turned round briefly and gave him a withering glare.

'Shuttingupnow,' squeaked the professor.

'Good,' snarled Meryl, feeling almost inebriated with rage. 'And you-' she turned to the Plant Angel that was Vash, who was still hovering above her, a mixed look of rage and confusion upon his sharp, contorted features. 'You… I… you're an utter bastard! You are a bastard and so was Wolfwood and so was Rem! And you know why? Because you all go and pull damn stunts like this! You say you'll stay, you make me wait and then you… you… AUGH! It's just like Wolfwood, telling Millie to damn well wait for him! It's just as bad! It's not even fair! You want me to wait for you, well tough! I'm not going to hold my entire life for you! I'm not going to waste my time waiting for you to finally settle down or… or… I just refuse! If you want me then you're going to have to come after me! Not that damn Plant hussy! Me! Meryl Strife! Because I'm sick of following you! I'm sick of waiting!'

Having finished her rant, Meryl paused for breath, or rather several breaths. Her voice was hoarse from screaming. She could hardly believe she'd lost her composure like that. Never the less, despite its unseemliness, it felt rather good to let loose.

She looked up into the pointed face of the Plant Vash and saw that it bore a strange expression, not one she had ever seen there. The anger was gone, that was for sure, but what had replace it was… was…

His aura started to shift back into deep red, a soft crimson glow which painted everything in dark, ruddy tones.

'Um…' said Meryl, her voice still a little croaky, 'does this mean he's going to attack me?'

'Well,' said Alex slowly, 'based on what we've just seen… I'd say those are his mating colours.'

'Oh… but he's looking at me…'

'Yes… it does rather seem that way.'

Vash slowly advanced towards her, his wings flapping lazily behind him, an expression of what Meryl now recognised as lust upon his features.

'Um…' said Meryl, suddenly feeling rather small and overwhelmed. 'You know… when I said follow… I mean… can't we have nice dinner or something first?'

Vash continued to advance.

NEXT TIME: With time running out and mating urges running high, how will our Heros escape this unharmed? More thrills and twists to come as we head towards the apex of Eden's Children!


	16. Judgement Day

15: Judgement Day

Millie frowned and tried to concentrate in putting the right DNA in the right place. Which was a task made increasingly difficult by Knives attentions.

The Plant in question was currently nibbling on her left hear, his hands roaming along the sides of her body. Had it been any other man, or any other time, she would have conked him one. As it was she could hardly do that. She needed him to help work out the equations, for one, and for another she could hardy blame him. The Plant song was really effecting him. She felt sure that, under any other circumstances, he'd never do such things.

She hated it, though, hated the feeling of his hands brushing over her, the heat of his breath whispering over her skin, the smell of the blood that still caked his clothes and flesh. At first she tried to pretend it was Nicholas, it was his hands and mouth travelling over her, the fragrance of his cigarettes scenting the air, but that soon became impossible. For whilst Knives and Nicholas shared an interest in her, that was all they shared.

As it was, apart from being extremely embarrassing, it was also not very constructive to her work. Millie had managed to fit most of the equations together, the DNA sequence was almost exactly right now, but there were still one more piece to fit, and Millie wasn't sure which code should go where. She had a fair clue but, really, it needed Knives mathematical ability. An ability he didn't seem that willing to give as he began to suckle on her neck.

'Mr Knives!' yelled Millie, struggling in his arms, trying to get his attention. 'Mr Knives! Please, concentrate! Just for one moment!'

Knives paused from biting her neck and, after a few seconds, drew away. He was pail and shaking, his blue eyes were bright with lust, sweat trickled down his face, smearing the blood stains there. His breath was coming in short gasps. Millie Thompson knew, right then, that it was only his phenomenal willpower which was stopping him taking her, right then and there.

'That one,' he rasped, pointing towards one of the chemical formula. Millie turned and selected it, it fitted in the correct place and the DNA sequence was complete!

Now it was just a matter of putting the sequence into the device Alex was using, but she'd no idea how to do that.

Perhaps sensing this, Knives leaned forward and, with trembling hands, quickly began to tap in a sequence of codes. In no time the screens flickered, a humming sound filled the room and then, as suddenly as it had started, it ended. The room went dark.

'It's done,' gasped Knives. 'The nano-bots have been reprogrammed.'

'Done?' squeaked Millie, joy and relief flowing through her veins. 'You mean we did it!'

'Yeah.'

'Yay!' Millie yelled. 'We did it! We did it! We did it!' she couldn't help but feel overjoyed. After all with any luck soon Mr Vash would be his old self and everyone would be happy! Soon she would be attending a wedding too! And she could wear a pretty dress and eat pudding and everything was going to be OK again!

She laughed with delight and jumped up and down, gripping Knives as she did so. She was surprised to see a smile, a real, honest smile creep across his face also, until it was alight with the same joy she felt.

'Mr Knives!' she giggled, 'we did it! We did-'

Her words were stopped as, Knives, still grinning and without any warning, leaned forward and kissed her.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

'I've got it!' yelled Alex, 'they've done it! The nano-bots have been reprogrammed!'

'Great!' shouted Meryl, who was currently backing up into a wall. 'Now use it!'

The Plant-Angel Vash was still advancing. He had landed on the floor and was taking slow, menacing steps towards her. Now he was so close that she could see the patters of crimson light dance around him, see the lusty glint in his eyes and make out the shape and texture of every feather. It was almost entrancing.

It surely seemed to have effected Alex. He just stood there, the nano-bot deprogrammer clutched in limp hands. His blue eyes were wide and shining, he seemed struck by the sight before him.

'So close…' he murmured. 'So close to Eden…'

'DO SOMETHING!' screamed Meryl, desperately. 'PLEASE, FOGET EDEN, JUST DO SOMETHING!'

Her words seemed to shake Alex out of his stupor, his eyes narrowed in determination and, tensing every muscle in his legs, he leapt forward. He landed right on Vash's back.

Vash screamed, a strange, inhuman sound. His aura shifted once more from ruddy red to brilliant orange, his wings beat the air furiously, his one hand clawed at Alex, trying to dislodge him, but the professor held on tight.

Vash's talon tipped hand tore through Alex's space suit, striking flesh, drawing blood. Alex screamed in agony bit did not let go.

Instead he brought one his hands out and pressed his device onto Vash's bare skin, he pushed a button and several LED's on the gadget lit up.

Vash still shook and wiggled, still screamed until, eventually, he managed to grab hold of Alex's space suit and pluck him of his back before flinging him across the room.

Alex fell onto the floor, gasped, and lay still.

Vash turned back to Meryl, his turning red again. For a moment Meryl wondered if it had failed, if they'd been too late…

Then, his aura shifted towards a paler colour, pink, rose, then white.

Vash stumbled, his feet suddenly unsteady beneath him, his face screwed up with confusion and, at last, he fell to his knees. A soft sound, like whimpering, escaped his thin lips and Meryl knew that, somewhere within him, nano-bots were quickly re-designing his DNA once more.

They'd succeeded.

Ignoring the stricken Vash for a moment, she ran around him, towards the prone form of Alex.

To her relief he groaned as she approached and, as she knelt down to check on him, she saw that he seemed more or less unharmed.

'Are you OK?' she asked.

'Yeah,' grunted Alex. 'My shoulder hurts but-' he looked up and an expression of horror contorted his features.

The next words he spoke caused Meryl's blood to freeze in her veins, caused her heart to miss a beat. They were words she'd often heard in the presence of Vash the Stampede and they were words she knew often spelled ultimate disaster.

'Uh oh…'

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Millie was so shocked by the actual kiss itself, she hardly registered when it ended. One moment Knives was holding her, his lips crushing against hers, his tongue invading her mouth, (he tasted of iron and salt and apples, oddly enough…) the next moment he was… gone.

Millie watched as he staggered backwards, away from her, a look of horror upon his gaunt features.

'Mr Knives?' Millie began, but Knives gave out a strangled shriek and pressed his hands against his head, his face contorting in pain.

For a moment Millie was clueless. Then she heard, in the background, the Plant song change.

She'd almost grown used to the eerie melody, she'd forgotten it was there save for its effects upon Knives, but now it was changing she became very much aware of it.

The haunting refrain of disjointed notes changed, became higher, more powerful, more frantic. It became a scream.

She winced, the horrible wailing set her teeth on edge. It was even worse than someone clawing at the black board.

But if she found it somewhat annoying, it seemed the purest agony for Knives. He'd sunk to his knees and was screaming himself now, howling in agony. Blood started spurting from his nose, tears flowed from his eyes until, at last, his cries began to fade away and his blue orbs rolled back into his head.

He collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.

Despite the previous events, Millie looked down upon him pityingly. It really hadn't been a good day for him.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Meryl was no Plant Engineer, but she knew a melt down when she saw one.

The female Plant was shrieking, her alien features twisted in rage and despair. Her hand pummelled the side of the bulb, causing small cracks to appear. Her aura was going crazy, it flashed and shone in all directions, becoming so dazzling it was almost impossible to see the Plant within.

'What's happening to her?' asked Meryl.

'Well,' yelled back Alex, over the cacophony of screaming, 'what I think we're looking at here is a case of terminal sexual frustration!'

'You're saying she's going mad because she didn't mate with Vash?'

'Something like that, yes.'

Had this been any other situation, Meryl might have found this funny, as it was things were all too serious. As far as she knew there was only one being that could possibly calm an aggravated Plant and that was Vash. But Vash was in no state to comfort anyone, much less an enraged Plant.

'What do we do?' asked Meryl, turning to the resident Plant expert.

'I don't think there's anything we can do,' Alex called back. 'This looks pretty bad. We need to get out of the room. This chamber was built for melt downs like this, if we get out then we'll be OK.'

'Great,' grunted Meryl, getting up and moving towards the still recovering form of Vash. 'Help me with him!' she ordered.

Alex staggered over and together they managed to drag the semi-recumbent form of Vash, who groaned and hissed at their treatment of him.

The screaming of the Plant was getting louder, shriller and the light show was getting brighter. It felt as if something were burning the edges of Meryl's mind. It wouldn't be long until total melt down now.

At the threshold to the corridor Alex paused and looked back towards the stricken Plant, a thoughtful look upon his features.

'What are you doing?' asked Meryl. 'Hurry!'

'No,' said Alex. 'Listen, that Plant is the only thing powering this ship. There are some reserve power supplies, true, but they'll run out within the month. If this Plant goes, then the ship, the technology, the research goes to! I can't let that happen! I've got to try and stop it!'

'But Mr Adams-' Meryl protested. 'Y-you can't!'

'Don't worry about me,' said Alex. Stepping back into the Plant room, he punched the locking mechanism from the other side and the doors began to slide shut. 'I'll be fine. You just take care of-'

'No!'

It wasn't Meryl or Alex who said this word.

A hand, pale and covered in feathers, reached forward, stopping and pulling back the closing doors. It grabbed the shocked Professor and yanked him out of the room, the doors slid smoothly shut behind him.

Vash pulled Alex so close towards him their faces were mere inches apart. His next words were a soft, barely audible growl, spoken through a curled lip and spiked teeth.

'No! Not again!'

Then his feathered hand loosened its grip from Alex's shirt front and fell limp, Vash had passed out.

Behind them the screaming rose to a dreadful crescendo. The floor rattled beneath Meryl and Alex, sending them both tumbling to the floor as the Plant Chamber exploded.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

It was a few minutes later when they met up at the shuttle bay. Alex closed the outer doors, allowing air to once again rush into the bay, before opening the inner doors and letting them in.

Shortly after they dragged the unconscious Vash inside, (A feat made all the more difficult by the fact that neither Meryl nor Alex were very strong and Vash was heavier than he looked, especially with the extra weight of the wings.) Millie arrived carrying the equally unconscious Knives.

'Hello Ma'am!' she greeted, carelessly dumping Knives on the floor of the _Lazarus_. 'Did you manage to do it?'

'If you mean reverse those Nano-bots and stop Vash matting with the Plant, then yes. And see…' Meryl produced a white feather, grinning. 'He's shedding already!'

'That's great Ma'am!' laughed Millie. 'It'll be good to see things getting back to normal.'

'Yes it-' Meryl paused, blinked, and focussed in on something just left and below Millie's right ear. 'Millie,' she said slowly, her voice weighted with shock, 'is that a hicky!'

'Huh?'

'A hicky! A love bite! You have a love bite on your neck!'

Millie blushed bright crimson and self consciously began to turn up the collar on her shirt. she muttered something inaudible, not meeting Meryl's furious gaze.

The short insurance woman was quickly adding things up and had come to one, inevitable conclusion.

She was going to kill him. She was going to have his balls for breakfast. Million Knives was going to see what ultimate suffering really was!

'Millie…' she said, slowly, 'did he… did Knives…'

'It's OK ma'am,' protested Millie quickly, seeing that Meryl was going white from rage. 'Please don't blame him! He didn't do anything, he fainted and… and… he wasn't really in much control of his actions! Nothing else happened, I promise!'

Meryl's eyes narrowed in suspicion, then she sighed. Millie wasn't lying to her. She couldn't lie apart from anything. She lacked the imagination for it, not to mention the fact there wasn't a deceitful bone in her body.

'Alright,' Meryl said. 'But if he ever bothers you again I'm gonna…' she let her sentence trail of ominously.

'Is everything alright?' asked Alex, popping up unexpectedly from under one of the shuttle panels. He'd been spending a few minutes checking the controls.

'Its fine, Mr Adams,' said Meryl smoothly. 'Now I think we should be heading back to Gun Smoke. Millie can watch over Vash and Knives whilst you drive us back to Sky City.'

'Um… well… actually,' stuttered Alex, 'I was thinking… wondering… well, it's all automated, all that's really needed is someone to stand over the controls. And I… I was hoping I could watch over them… to… well… make sure they're alright. I am a Plant expert of sorts, after all…'

Meryl's mouth narrowed. 'Mr Adams,' she said, 'I think that, given what you've done you-'

'You'd be perfect to look after Mr Vash and Mr Knives,' said Millie, speaking over Meryl quickly. 'Me and Ma'am will be watching over the controls. You take care of them now!'

She grabbed hold of the startled Meryl's shoulder and roughly dragged her away until they were standing by the main console.

'Millie!' hissed Meryl angrily, furious that her partner had treated her, her superior, in such a manner!

'Please Ma'am!' said Millie in a low voice. 'Let Mr Adams be with them! He's their father and he's never spent any time with them. They're his family, Ma'am. He needs to be with them now at least!'

Meryl tried to stay angry, to be hard, but she couldn't manage it. Her anger drained away from her like water.

'Very well then,' she sighed, shoulders slumping in defeat, 'I suppose he does deserve that at least. Come on, Millie, let's go home.

Behind them Alexander Adams knelt down besides the slumbering forms of Vash and Knives.

He regarded them, gazing at them with newfound wonder, his progeny, his children, his sons.

One lay upon his back, the tatters of his blue coat splayed around him. He was covered in blood, both physically and metaphorically, his face pail and lined, showing the effects of pain and madness.

His twin's face was more innocent, but no less pained. Beneath the multitude of mutated feathers still covering his form like a white blanket lay the scars of a brutal, unfair life. A life full of needless trials, of humiliation, loss and ultimate sacrifice.

These were his sons.

His family.

He was finally with his family.

If only Rem could have seen this…

Very quietly, so that the women in the front would not hear, Alexander Adams put his head in his hands and started to cry.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

NEXT TIME: It's the last chapter and the penultimate part! So, Vash is recovering! Knives isn't molesting Milly... Alex seems to be regretting his actions… surely a happy ending for all is ahead, Right? Right…?


	17. Ballad of Fallen Angels

Chapter 16

Ballad of Fallen Angels

It was the dawn of the third day since their return to Gun Smoke and Sky City.

There had, understandably, been a lot of fuss upon their arrival. Professor Alexander Adams was escorted away to the brig and he remained there fore a good few hours whilst his story was revealed.

Alex seemed most co-operative; he answered the Doctor's questions quickly, honestly… but not completely.

His story seemed reasonable enough, he told the Doctor of his faked suicide due to his concern over Vash and Knives. Told him about waking up because of the disturbance caused by Vash's attack on the fifth moon. He went on to speak about finding Rem's dead, floating body, his rage and sorrow. Thinking that it was Vash who had caused this deed, a supposition backed up by the claims of numerous people on Gun Smoke and Vash's own status as a humanoid disaster zone. He'd decided to take revenge and stop Vash. He had the technology to create the nano-bots, had managed to steal the raw materials from Sky City (using his high security level) and then, following the rumours, swiftly found Vash's residence. From then on he'd learned of his inordinate love of doughnuts and infected Vash by coating little sugary droplets with the nanno-bots and selling them to the doughnut vendor as silver sprinkles.

However, Alex did not mention the exact origins of Vash and Knives, nor did he go into his reasons for choosing to turn Vash into a male Plant.

If the Doctor noticed these glossed over patches in Alex's story, he gave no indication of it. With the permission of Meryl and Millie, he let Alex go, on condition that he remained within the confines of Sky City until Vash was awake.

This didn't look like it was going to happen any time soon, he had slept solidly since their arrival. A condition, Alex had assured, most probably caused by the amount of energy his body was expanding in reversing the changes.

And Vash was changing once more, slowly but steadily reverting to his usual form. His face was now back to it's usual proportions, all the feathers had peeled from his wings, leaving them as mere skeletal ornaments which, apparently, would be shed soon enough.

Knives, by contrast, had awoken just the other day, showing no ill effects other than a very nasty headache and a rather short temper. He'd grudgingly allowed Millie to tend to him, (a situation Meryl was less than happy with,) but had spoken little and what he had said was… odd.

Meryl was just going to give him his breakfast that morning when she saw Alex, sitting by the window of their small quarters, watching the sunrise.

'Good morning,' she greeted. She found herself rather enjoying Alex's company. For despite all his idiosyncrasies and eccentricities, he was saner than most of the people she spent her time with.

'Good morning,' he retuned cheerily. 'It's a beautiful sunrise, isn't it?'

'I suppose so,' said Meryl, it didn't look anything that special to her, but she supposed that Alex hadn't seen that many Gun Smoke sunrises. 'I've just come down with breakfast for Knives.'

'That's nice.'

'You know,' continued Meryl, 'tomorrow is their birthday, Vash and Knives birthday that is. I thought I might make them something special for breakfast.'

'Good idea.'

'You're not going to be around by then, are you?'

Meryl didn't know what had caused this particular flash of insight, but she suddenly knew it, as surely as she knew anything. It was written all over the scientist, in the way his head drooped, in the way his eyes scanned the morning horizon.

'Yes…' he muttered. 'Yes… I'll be gone.'

'Why?'

Alex smiled sadly, 'I hardly think I'm welcome here, do you?'

'Knives might not be your biggest fan,' replied Meryl. 'But Vash… you don't know him. He's one of the most gentle, forgiving people I know, once he learns what happened I'm sure he'll understand. Please… if you give him a chance then he won't hold anything against you.'

'I know,' sighed Alex, 'that's why I'm leaving.'

'I don't understand.'

Alex opened his mouth to say something, closed it, sighed, and shook his head.

'It doesn't matter,' he said. 'I don't think I can put it into words except to say… I… I'm not ready. I can't face that, I can't face him… not even in forgiveness… not now. I need to leave, to learn more about this planet, figure out things. Find a new way to Eden.'

Meryl frowned, she clenched her hands. 'You're not being rational,' she said, feeling more than a little annoyed.

'No,' agreed Alex, 'I don't suppose I am but… I think, in the final analysis it comes to this… I don't deserve them. I'm a foolish, cowardly old man, Miss Strife, I'm not worthy of my sons, who are greater and gooder than I can ever hope to be.'

'You do yourself an injustice.'

Alex shrugged and turned away from the rising sun. He stood up and stretched his muscles, yawning the residue of sleep away.

'When are you going?' asked Meryl. 'And how are you going? How are you going to get out of here?'

'I have my ways,' replied Alex slyly. 'I probably know this place and the technology here better than anyone, even the Doctor. And as for when… just about as soon as I've finished talking to you I suppose. No point in putting it off.'

'You're not even going to say goodbye to Knives?'

'Would he want me to? I've think Knives will be glad to see the back of me.'

'I don't know,' said Meryl, thoughtfully. 'Knives is pretty much like that with anyone, even Vash upon occasion. He does dislike you, yes, but I think that that's partly because you remind him of himself so much. He's trying to find a new way to Eden, too, trying to make amends for his mistakes. I think he's worried that he'll mess up, like you. You're kind of a reminder to his past, as well as a warning about his future.'

'A past he might well return to,' said Alex darkly. 'He was ranting about continuing his crusade… until I heard you tell me what he did… I never would have believed… do you think he really will start all that up again? All because of me?'

Meryl shook her head, 'I don't know,' she said. 'It's a strange thing… just a little while after he awoke I mentioned something about that, in passing. But he didn't seem to remember anything. He seems to be under the impression that you were just changing Vash into a Plant for some sort of punishment or some such…'

'Any idea why that is? Are you going to tell him the truth?'

Meryl frowned, 'no.' She said at last, 'No, I'm not. And I'm not going to tell Vash either, if anyone should do that it's you. And as for why he doesn't remember… well, I think it's because of the stress. Sometimes, when Vash is stressed or in a lot of pain, he blocks out huge chunks of his memory. He did it after activating his Angel Arm. I think Knives has done that too, it must be some sort of Plant defence mechanism. If a memory is too painful or traumatising then his brain just blocks it out.'

'Interesting theory, I like it. Just how long do you think these 'blocks' will last?'

'I don't know, a long time I hope.'

Alex nodded in agreement, then his eyes widened and he slapped himself on the forehead. 'Damn,' he swore, 'talk about forgetfulness! I almost forgot this-' he reached into a pocket of the blue jeans he now wore and brought out something small and golden. Meryl recognised it as the locket. 'I believe it belongs to you,' he said,. 'Sorry about hitting you, by the way.'

He threw the necklace towards her but his aim was dreadful, she had to lunge forward to catch it. 'That's alright,' said replied, 'I understand.'

She looked down at the charm in her hands, she ran a finger absently over the little inscriptions on its surface.

'Tell me,' she said at last, 'what… what was she like?'

'She? You mean Rem?'

Meryl nodded.

Alex sighed, his eyes seemed to become unfazed, misty as he looked into the past. 'She was amazing,' he said. 'Beautiful, intelligent, gentle, kind, generous and always forgiving. She had this way of looking at the world, of seeing the magic in almost anything. She could turn a cup of coffee into a miracle, a walk down the street into a philosophical lesson. She was… unique.'

Meryl's heart plummeted as she heard the reverential description, how could she ever stand a chance against a woman like that? They didn't even sound remotely similar, for a start. How could… why had Vash ever shown the smallest amount of interest in her? Was he just stringing her along? Was she just a passing fancy?

Alex saw the look on her face and moved over to put a hand on her shoulder. 'Listen,' he said, 'I don't entirely understand what's going on between you and Vash but… well… whatever you do, do it soon. If there's one thing I've learned is that for all man's power, he is not immortal. We must grab the day, seize the moment, you can't hover in indecision forever. Do you understand?'

'Yes,' said Meryl glumly. 'I do, but it's harder than is seems.'

'I know,' sighed Alex, 'I know.'

They stood there in silence for a while, neither sure what to say, until as last Alex sighed once more. 'Well, I think it's past time I was off.'

'Yes,' agreed Meryl, 'I suppose it is.'

'Will you say goodbye to Miss Thompson for me?'

'Of course.'

'And Vash and Knives too, if you can. Please, pass on my apologies for this and everything else. I wish them best of luck in the future, I… I hope one day they might both forgive me, I hope I can meet them again. I would like that.'

'Are you sure you want to go? As I said, I'm sure you don't need to.'

'Yes, I do. Tell the Doctor that he can feel free to take as much technology from the SEEDS ship as he wishes. It might as well come to some use and the emergency energy supply should last a month or so.'

'And Rem's body?'

Alex looked shocked that she knew about that. 'I…' he paused, 'I suppose that's up to Vash and Knives,' he said at last. 'But please… tell them to treat her gently.'

'I'm sure they wouldn't do anything else.'

Alex nodded and moved into his own section of their shared quarters. He came back with a small rucksack and a long, brown, rather battered looking coat.

'Well,' he said, 'I'm off. Good luck to you, and goodbye.'

'Goodbye,' returned Meryl as he walked out of the door. 'And try not to get into too much trouble!' she shouted after him, but he was already gone.

She sat down in a near by chair, Knives' breakfast cooling on the table, forgotten about completely. She really should give it to him but, right now, she wanted to spend some time alone and seeing his face would only remind her of his brother's, and the difficult decision she must make.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

As it happened, Knives never did receive his breakfast. However, this did not result in a particular high temper, as it usually would. He found that his mind was far too engaged in other matters to allow a missing meal to bother him.

It was mid day and he was doing some his usual exercises when Millie entered his room, bearing large plate of sandwiches, his mid day meal.

Knives looked up from his press-up and quickly rose to his feet. Millie was blushing bright crimson, for he was not wearing any shirt.

Seeing her expression Knives quickly moved to remedy the situation, grabbing the cast off garment from his bed and slipping it on over his shoulders. He used the excuse of doing up the buttons to avoid her gaze. Aside from simply keeping his body and skills in shape, he'd been exercising to keep his mind off a certain issue which had been troubling him of late.

'I brought you your lunch,' said Millie unnecessarily. 'Meryl forgot about your breakfast because she was talking to Mr Alex. She says she is sorry.'

Knives grunted noncommittally and reached out for the tray.

'Mr Alex has left,' Millie said suddenly as he took the food. 'He went just after talking to Ma'am. The Doctor has the entire city looking for him, but I don't think they'll find him. He seemed very clever, didn't he?'

Knives gave out another grunt, 'I suppose,' he said. 'Good riddance, I say.'

'Mr Knives that's mean! He is your family.'

'A father that tries to kill his son is no kind of family,' snapped Knives. For some reason he found himself uncomfortable with this line of conversation. Not for the first time he felt… odd. Like there was something he'd forgotten, something he'd put aside. He'd found that, since awakening, some of his memory was a blur and every time he tried to work out the details he found himself unable to. F strange, uncomfortable feeling of dread stopped him. One thing he could remember, however, was what had occurred with Millie.

'Spi… huma… Miss… ah… Millie,' he began, trying to discover the right term. 'About what happened before, when the Plant effected me… I wanted to say… that is…'

Even as his stuttering words came out Knives inwardly cursed himself. How was it that now, of all times, his usually adequate lexical and reasoning abilities failed him? His message was clear but he just couldn't phrase it in the right manner, not when that damn female human was looking at him like that.

Oddly enough, Millie saved him the trouble. 'It's alright Mr Knives,' she said brightly. 'If it's about when you kissed me, then don't worry. I know that the Plant song was effecting you, its scream was what knocked you out. I don't mind and I know you'd never to anything like that usually.'

Knives didn't even attempt to hide his sight of relief. 'Good,' he said simply.

Millie grinned and turned to go, but Knives shouted, 'wait,' and she did.

Knives swallowed nervously and licked his lips. He really wasn't sure how to go about doing something like this, didn't like even having to say this but… well, it was probably best to get it over with.

'I was thinking,' he said slowly, 'I… would you… would like to eat my sandwiches with me?'

Millie blinked, for a moment something strange, some emotion or memory, flickered within her eyes and Knives suddenly felt even more self conscious.

'Why?' she asked blandly.

'Because…' _because you're not like any other human I've met… _'Because…' _because I find your company tolerable and interesting… _'Because…' _because I'm fascinated by you, I want to learn more… _'Because I'm not hungry, I can't finish all these on my own so… would you like to share?' _Because I'm feeling emotions I'm not used to, and I want to explore them with you... because you make me smile._

Once more something strange passed beneath Millie Thompson's eyes, but her bland expression soon morphed into her usual, innocent grin.

'Thank you very much, Mr Knives, that sounds wonderful,' she said. Making the corners of Knives mouth twitch upwards almost imperceptibly, 'but I can't.'

'Why not?' asked Knives, trying to keep all emotion out of his voice.

'It's Sunday,' explained Millie. 'I always go to church on Sunday, to spend time with Nicholas.'

'Chapel? Wolfwood?'

'Yes, I see him almost every time I prey! So I go to church every week when I can. But because of all the things that have been happening recently I've not been able to go much, so I really should go today. He'll get worried otherwise, and I don't want to make him sad. You understand that, don't you Mr Knives?'

For once it was all Knives could do nod and he kept his head bowed, not wanting to watch Millie leave the room as bouncily as she'd entered it.

Knives sat down on the bed, his plate of sandwiches upon his lap, he stared blankly at the little triangles of bred and filling.

Then, cursing himself vehemently, he flung the carefully made sandwiches against the wall.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

'Malting,' said Vash, wincing as he plucked yet another white feather from his arm, 'sucks.'

Knives looked up from his book (Crime and Punishment,) and grunted concomitantly.

It had been a full day since Alex had left, and Vash had been awake for about seven hours. Most of these hours had been filled with either Vash's constant whining, or rapt silences as Knives and the girls explained what had occurred.

Vash sighed and lay back amongst the pillows. 'I wish I could have talked to him,' he muttered.

'Who?' asked Knives, abandoning the book.

'Professor Alexander Adams, of course,' explained Vash.

Knives sniffed disdainfully.

'Oh come on,' scoffed Vash. 'Don't tell me you don't feel the same way! I know you didn't get on with the guy but still… he's our father! Or the closest thing to it. Think of all the questions he could answer. He's an important part of our past, Knives. Plus… plus I'd have liked to talk to him about Rem.'

Once more Knives shrugged, 'if you say so,' he muttered. He stood up out of his chair.

'Where are you going?' asked Vash.

'Out,' replied Knives simply.

'I'll see you at dinner thought, right?'

'No,' said Knives, solemnly. 'I'm going. I'm leaving, I've been here long enough.'

'But-'

'It's our birthday, Vash.'

Vash blinked, trying to connect what that meant. He soon remembered.

'Oh,' he said simply then, after a brief pause. 'So what are you going to do? I mean, are you going to go back to killing people again?'

The question was asked without any ounce of jollity or jest.

Knives sighed and slowly raked his hands through his short blond hair. 'I don't know,' he said. 'If you're asking if I'm going to start my crusade again… no. No, I won't. I'll promise you that much, not this year. But not to kill at all… I'll try Vash, that's all I can say.'

'But human life is worth-'

'_I'll_ decide what human life is worth for myself, Vash,' snapped Knives. 'Right now I'm not sure, I'll let you know when I am.'

Vash sighed, 'alright then but please… try no to kill anyone? For my sake?'

'We'll see,' muttered Knives.

Vash nodded and looked down sadly at the bedspread. 'It's a shame,' he said at last. 'I was kinda hoping we could talk more, chat, catch up. As it was we hardly got to spend much time together at all.'

'I suppose that's the way it goes,' replied Knives.

'Yeah. Look, I'm sorry for what happened back at the ship, when we fought? It was dumb and I was in a crappy mood and, well, I'm sorry.'

'Don't worry about it,' Knives said dismissively. 'I suppose I was just as much an idiot in my own way. Vash… I don't approve of your relationship with that human female. I think that, in the long run, it's a move of stupidity, an act of idiocy on a truly grand scale. But I respect your decision and I won't try to get in the way of it. It's your mistake to make I suppose.'

'Thank you Knives,' said Vash, truly sincere. 'That means a lot to me.'

Knives grunted and nodded his head. 'Speaking of which,' he said, 'Meryl wants to talk to you, I think you need some time alone with her.'

He shot Vash a particularly meaningful look, and matched out of the room. A few moments later Meryl replaced him, entering Vash's chamber and taking a seat by his bed.

'Hi,' said Vash shyly.

'Hello,' returned Meryl, fidgeting in her chair.

For a while neither of them spoke. Despite the fact Vash had been awake for some time, they'd not had chance to exchange any words in private.

'So…' said Meryl at last, casting about for some conversation, 'how do you feel?'

'Dreadful,' whined Vash. 'I'm shedding all these feathers! Don't suppose you could kiss me better?'

'Seriously,' sighed Meryl, rolling her eyes.

'Alright,' the gunman replied, blushing. 'The Doctor says I'll be up and about in a few days. The wings should fall off pretty soon, that's gonna really hurt but, hey, at least I'll be able to fit through doorways again!'

Meryl's dour expression did not change. 'So,' she said, 'there'll be no lasting effects?'

Vash looked away, 'there should be some scarring on my back,' he muttered. 'But I've got worse, you've seen.'

'Good,' said Meryl confidentially and once more a long, awkward silence descended.

Vash hated long awkward silences.

'So,' he said at last, 'um… what was my dad like?'

'Mr Adams?' asked Meryl, 'oh, he was… well, he seemed nice enough. Intelligent, sharp, down to earth, a little arrogant perhaps…'

'He sounds just like Knives,' giggled Vash. 'No wonder they didn't get on!'

Meryl didn't join him in mirth, instead she said, 'he was a lot like you, too. Idealistic, gentle, a pacifist.'

'Good looking, poetic, heroic?'

'Don't push it.'

Vash started to laugh again, but stopped when he saw the solemn expression on Meryl's face. She seemed to be fiddling absently with her right hand, slowly twisting something on her finger.

Ah yes… now he remembered.

Shyly, gently, he reached out and took her other hand, he smiled. 'Are you thinking about our engagement?'

'Yes,' replied Meryl quietly. She looked into his eyes for a moment then carefully extracted her hand from his grip. Slowly, she pulled off his earring, taking it off her index finger and handing the small silver band back to him.

'I believe this is yours,' she said.

Vash looked at the silver hoop mutely, confused, his eyes watering.

'Why?' he asked simply.

Meryl sighed and turned away, it seemed she was trying to find the right words to say. 'Vash,' she said at last, 'I love you. You've no idea how long I've meant to say it, but I do. I would follow you across the world, hell, I nearly have. I'd wait a thousand years for you, if I had to. But… the problem is… I don't know that you'd do the same for me.'

She paused and wiped her eyes, denying the tears that welled there. 'I can't marry someone without knowing that they love me.'

'I gave you that ring, didn't I? Doesn't that prove my love?' asked Vash, trying to keep desperation and recrimination from his voice.

'Does it?' returned Meryl. 'I don't think so. You said it yourself at the time, you gave me this ring because you thought you were going to die, because you wanted something to return to, someone waiting for you, someone to follow you. That was wrong, Vash. It was cruel and a little selfish, to make me pledge that when you knew full well you might die. Wolfwood did the same, he asked Millie to wait for him and she did, she's still waiting for him. Just like you're waiting for Rem. Just like she waited for Alex. In it's way, it's almost as bad as revenge. Well, someone is going to put a stop to this. I won't do that, Vash. I'm not going to condemn myself to waiting my entire life for someone who I don't even know loves me in return. I need proof before I commit myself like that.'

'What are you going to do? What do you want me to do? Is there any way...?'

'Yes,' said Meryl, standing up, 'there is. I'm leaving Vash.'

Vash blinked, suddenly the room seemed very small and hot around him. He felt the blood drain from his face. 'What?'

'I'm leaving, with Knives. I'll be travelling with him for a while, to keep him out of mischief apart from anything. You can follow me when you're feeling better, if you're up to it, if you're willing. I'm sure Millie will take care of you in the mean time. Vash… for a long while I've waited for you and I've followed you, not just because it was my job or my duty, but because I loved you. Now it's time for you to wait, for you to follow. Now it's time for you to prove the same. If you can't then… well… this obviously wasn't meant to be.'

'But-' began Vash, but found that all the protests which came to his mind were weak and feeble against Meryl's argument. Was she right? Was he just using her as some tool, some thing to come back to? Some strange security blanket? Did he really love her?

'When are you going?' he asked.

'Now,' said Meryl, I'm leaving with Knives, as I said. Here,' she tossed something, a small envelope towards him. 'This might help… or not. I decided that Millie's wrong, that you need to see this.'

'Wrong about what?' queried Vash, but before Meryl could answer Knives came in. He looked somewhat impatient.

'Are you ready to go?'

'Yes,' said Meryl, arising from her chair.

'Wait!' beseeched Vash.

Meryl turned to him, she looked truly sad. 'Goodbye Mr Vash,' was all she said, before turning on her heel and leaving the room.

'Knives!' implored Vash, gazing at his brother desperately.

'Don't worry Vash,' said Knives, solemnly. 'I swear I'll look after her. I will see you next year, if not earlier.'

'But-' began Vash, then he stopped. A mere glance and Knives stony expression told him it would be little use changing his mind. Indeed, there was only one other person who was possibly more single minded than Millions Knives, and that was Meryl Strife. Without having to evaluate the situation any further, Vash knew immediately that he'd lost. There was no point in arguing or protesting.

'Please,' he begged, 'please protect her!'

Knives nodded. 'Goodbye brother,' he said, before following Meryl out and closing the door behind him.

Vash was left alone in his small room, Meryl's letter crinkled and squashed in one hand, the cold metal of his earring digging into the palm of his other.

Slowly, quietly, he wept.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Mille was waiting outside the door, wringing her hands. 'Ma'am?' she asked, her concern evident.

'I'm alright Millie,' said Meryl, forcing a smile to her lips. 'But it's time we left.'

'Mr Rex says that I can travel in the car with you, just until you get to the outskirts of Sky City.'

'That's excellent,' Meryl said, not even trying to keep the happiness from her voice. 'It would be nice to have someone see us off.'

Knives, if he had any thoughts on the matter, remained silent.

They and Sky City's head of security, Rex, made their way out of their quarters, down the twisting corridors and out of the city where a car waited for them.

'We traded ten of these for a hover vehicle last month,' grunted Rex, getting in the driving seat and starting it up. 'The Doctor generously decided to give you this one. Though he'd be grateful if you could bring it back when you've finished… this or a replacement, that is.'

'I'll be sure to do that,' vowed Meryl solemnly. 'Please pass on my sincere thanks to the Doctor for all he's done for us.'

Rex grunted and once the other three had entered the vehicle, he started it up.

He drove them just half a mile out of Sky City, far enough to get them out of the way of the main border patrols, before he stopped the car. He exited it with Millie, leaving Meryl and Knives on their own.

'I'm off back to the city,' he said curtly, 'Miss Thompson?'

'I'll follow in a bit,' said Millie, 'I just want to say goodbye to Mr Knives and Ma'am.'

'Alright,' replied Rex. 'Goodbye Miss Strife, Knives.' he gave Meryl a sharp bow and shot a cutting look towards Knives before starting off back towards the city,

'Well,' said Meryl bracingly, 'I suppose its goodbye then, Millie. I trust that you'll look after yourself and continue to send reports to Bernelli on Vash. You're not to let your guard down one moment mind you. You know what a disaster zone he is. I'd hate to pick up a news paper and read of some catastrophe and wonder if you'd filed a report to-'

'Ma'am,' interrupted Millie. 'Don't worry. I'll take good care of Mr Vash.'

Despite herself, Meryl felt tears welling in her eyes. It took all of her considerable willpower to hold them back. She'd not been separated from Millie for over a year and a half, and that previous separation had only been because the tall girl had wanted to visit her family, to help her recover from Wolfwood's death.

Now it looked like they were separating again, this time for who knew how long. Meryl wasn't even sure where she was headed next. She had a notion to visit the Bernelli main offices but she wasn't sure how will that would go down, what with taking the wanted Knives with her. Perhaps she could apply for a job trailing him for a bit?

'Oh Millie,' she murmured and allowed herself to be hugged by her partner, who was making no attempt at all to hide her tears.

'You look after yourself,' she sniffed, 'and Mr Knives too. He needs someone just as bad, I think.'

Meryl laughed, 'off all the people to be worried about… but yes, I'm sure we'll look after ourselves. I hope… I know we'll meet again soon Millie.'

'Of course we will Ma'am! Nothing can keep us apart!'

Meryl nodded and slipped into the driver seat. Knives moved into the shotgun seat.

'Bye Mr Knives,' said Millie happily, even though the tall half Plant had remained utterly silent ever since they'd left Sky City. 'Please look after yourself as well.'

Knives only nodded, he opened his mouth as if he was going to say something at last, then quickly closed it. He turned away, reached into a coat pocket, and drew out a pair of dark, spiky sunglasses, which he slipped over his eyes.

Meryl started the car. 'Good bye Millie!' she cried before her voice was drowned out by the humming of the engine and the whistle of sand spat out from under wheels.

The car started off, moving swiftly away from Millie, who was waving manically and still yelling her goodbyes, tears brimming in her large, blue eyes.

Meryl waved back once, then put all her concentration on driving. Knives made no move to return her partner's frantic waves. He remained grim and silent behind the wheel, his eyes (hidden by dark lenses,) seemed fixed before him.

They rode on for a minute before the silence became too much for Meryl. It was time to lay down some ground rules… or at least sort out the terrain of her relationship with Knives.

It occurred to her that, even in the weeks they'd met, they'd spent little time alone together.

'Well,' she said, 'you can stop that gloating right this moment.'

'Excuse me?' asked Knives and under his usual superior tone Meryl detected the lightest hint of incredulity.

'Gloating,' the repeated.; 'About me and Vash. I suppose you're over the moons that we're not getting married after all. Well don't hold your breath… there's still a chance… if he follows me…'

'I hope he has the sense not to,' growled Knives. 'But for your information I wasn't gloating. What happens between you and Vash is your business, there's nothing I can… nothing I will do to interfere.'

'Really?' Meryl couldn't help but be sceptical. 'You mean that? I thought you disapproved of me.'

'You're human, of course I disapprove.'

'I saved your life, didn't I? I stopped that Jessica girl from killing you.'

'Only because it would impress Vash.'

There was a squeal of breaks, the tyres kicked up sand, both occupants jerked forward to the limit of their seat belts.

'Right, that's it!' said Meryl, taking her foot off the break peddle and turning to face a startled Knives. 'It's time we got a few things straight between us. I did not save your sorry ass because of Vash… or not directly at least. Vash might think that you've changed. Vash might think that you can repent. I'm not convinced. Personally I think that, sooner or later, you'll turn back to your old ways and that will leave a lot of people very sorry indeed, not least of whom will be Vash. Personally I think that, if anyone upon this miserable planet deserves death, it's you. But do you know why I didn't let that girl kill you?'

She didn't wait for an answer, not that the shocked Knives looked prepared to give her one. 'Because I actually do believe that life, even your life, is worth something. Because _I _was willing to give you a chance. Because I'm willing to trust in Vash with this, to have faith that he might be right about you. I just wish you'd have the decency to do the same about me.'

Finally finishing her tirade, Meryl started up the car again but drove considerably slower and more carefully than before, her hands where shaking from the relief of letting off her temper. Letting of steam from an issue which had been brewing in her gut for a long while.

When Knives finally spoke it was with a low, solemn voice and he did not turn to look at her, instead his eyes, hidden by sunglasses, seemed to be turned to the side, watching the landscape roll past.

'I never said I wasn't grateful for what you did,' he replied at length. 'And… I do trust you to an extent. If I didn't I would have never agreed to your company. But my doubts about you and Vash are deeper than you can ever appreciate.'

'Try me.'

Meryl did not look towards him as she spoke, she only hoped he had heard her and would rise to the challenge.

After another seconds thought, he did so. 'You don't know my brother,' he said. 'Not like I do. You don't see… no matter what else you might think of me, you and I both share one thing in common. We both love Vash. The only difference is that I've loved him for longer, and perhaps in a different manner. You've never seen Vash in love, have you? I'm sure you've not. I have. I was there when he loved Rem, I was the one who destroyed her, who watched what that did to him. When Vash the Stampede loves, really loves, he does so with all his body, soul and mind. It's utter and complete love, truer and more eternal than anything a human can conceive. That love died with Rem Saverem, it almost sent him into madness, almost destroyed me also. It's left scars upon his mind and soul for worse and far more hideous than those that mar his body. He has not loved anyone, anyone at all, in that manner since the day Rem Saverem passed from this universe. Now you ask that I should condone love between you two? You expect that I should wish you well, should prey that Vash follows you? That he should fall in love with you in that same way? You're a selfish, short sighted idiot, like most humans. You don't understand, cannot comprehend… even if you live to one hundred, you'll still die before him. On that day he'll loose everything once more, he'll be cast into that dreadful place again. On that day he'll thrown deeper into ultimate suffering than I and my Gung-Ho-Guns could ever have accomplished. On that day I will most likely loose him forever. So forgive me if I don't cheer on your attempts to romance my brother.'

Meryl found herself completely devoid of the power of speech, she didn't know how to respond. The only words that could come to her mouth were. 'I'm sorry.'

Knives shrugged, 'I don't particularly blame you. There's no point, we can never predict where our hearts lead us.'

And it seemed to Meryl that his gaze, hidden as it was, was drawn away from the rolling scenery to the rear view mirror, to the rolling dunes they'd passed. Back towards the small, white blob on the horizon. Back towards Sky City and the tiny, black dot of a figure in front of it, who was almost undoubtedly still waving manically. Until this, too, was lost to the golden desert sands and the endless blue sky.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

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And please don't kill me…

NEXT TIME: The Epilogue.


	18. Epilogue

Epilogue

He had been right; he was much taller than her, now.

His first thoughts upon seeing her again after so, so long, was how different she was.

In his memory Rem was a giant, striding, skipping, full of noise and light. She'd laugh and everywhere she went the room would light up, as if a thousand, million gentle suns had entered the room. She was tall and powerful and wonderful. She was a saint, a goddess, an angel.

But now… now she was just a woman. A dead body, caught in a crystal coffin like Snow White. Once Vash might have fancied that a kiss would wake her, but he didn't believe in fairy tales any more.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been crying for, five, six hours at least. Whispering endearments, vows, apologies. Sobbing over the woman he'd lost. Then, after a while, he sopped crying and started thinking, recalling the letter Meryl had given him just before she left.

_"Rem is in her room back on the SEEDS ship. I know this will cause you pain, but I hope it helps you let go of the past. Forgive me."_

Perhaps it was time to accept that loss. Perhaps it was time to set her free.

The combined weight of the sleep chamber and its occupant was far in excess of what most normal humans could have managed, but to Vash, who was by no means normal. His strength was bolstered by an iron will so it presented little difficulty. And it was nothing compared to the weight of grief in his heart. A weight he had been carrying for one hundred and thirty years now.

He lifted the chamber and Rem, carrying it upon his back as he slowly marched out of her meagre quarters and down the corridors of the ship.

Several areas of it had already been gutted by the salvaging crews from Sky City. The technology and information they'd salvaged would aid not only them, but all of Gun Smoke for years to come. A fine legacy, one befitting Rem and Alex.

The crews, however, on the Doctor's orders, had not entered the private quarters and they'd evacuated the area briefly whilst Vash underwent his sojourn. This he was grateful for, usually he loathed being truly alone but now… now he needed that solitude.

This was a private affair, one between him and the ghost of Rem Saverem.

As he strode down the corridors, her body born upon his back, he talked to her. He told her, all be it only briefly, of everything that had gone before, told her of Knives, The Doctor, Sky City, Millie, Wolfwood, the Gung Ho Guns, Legato, Alex and finally of Meryl.

Even as he spoke now tears ran down his face, leaving a trail of moisture where he had walked. He hardly felt the weight upon his spine, indeed if he felt anything it was of comfort, the warmth upon his back and, sometimes it seemed to him that the echoing corridors, that flung back his words to him, had a feminine lilt. As if Rem were replying to him, holding a strange conversation.

It was crazy, deranged, sentimental but it gave him comfort.

At last they arrived at the destination, the Shuttle Bay.

Carefully Vash laid her body down near the doors and sat by it, looking into her peaceful, all too human face.

'This is it, Rem,' he said, trying to keep his voice from breaking. 'This is the end.'

He paused, trying to discern if there was any emotion, any emotion at all upon her still, dead face. He could see none.

'I know,' he continued, 'that once, years ago, I promised I'd never leave you, because I love you. That hasn't changed, I still love you, and I'm not leaving you. But I think it's time you left me. I think… I'm setting you free now, Rem.'

He had to stop for a moment, to dry his eyes, to control his voice. For a second, for one, small, infinitesimal second, he was angry at Meryl for forcing this upon him.

But no; she didn't force this, this had been in the making for many years now, he should have done it before but it was only his own weakness which stopped him. Now he had to be strong, courageous, determined.

'Do you remember our old teddy bear, Rem?' whispered Vash, putting his face very close to the glass of the cabinet. 'Do you remember that argument me and Knives had about it? Do you remember what you said, about letting go and keeping hold of those you love? Its hard Rem, it really is, but I've made my choice. I've held onto you for many years, but I've got to let you go now. Because there's someone else I've got to hold onto. Do you understand? I do love you Rem, I always will, and I won't forget you. But it's time I let go, so I can be happy. So Meryl can be happy. You want me to be happy, right Rem?'

If from beyond the grave Rem heard him, she gave no audible reply.

'Good bye Rem,' he said gently, closing his eyes, desperately stopping the flow of tears.

Slowly, carefully, he got to his feet, not letting his eyes stray from her still form, trying to memorise every detail of her.

Then, swallowing his tears, he slowly stepped away from her, going one, two, three paces back before, summoning all his will power, he turned his back.

He walked towards the exit of the shuttle bay, trying not to look backwards, trying to resist the urge to turn around and run back to Rem, to cry, to scream to do anything but what he was doing now. What needed to be done now.

It was difficult, life time habits always are hard to resist, but he did it. He walked right through the exit of the shuttle bay and closed the door behind him.

He paused a second, leaning against the wall, taking in deep, shaking breaths, trying to clear his eyes from tears, it wasn't over yet. There was one more thing, the easiest, and the hardest thing to do.

Taking in one last, deep breath, he looked up towards one of the small controls upon the wall, the control that would open the space hatches of the Shuttle bay.

Then, his hand shaking, the world spinning, his stomach light with fear, heavy with grief, fluttering with a million butterflies of indecision, he pressed the button.

There was a whooshing sound as the doors opened and the air leaked out. Everything that wasn't held down with Magni-Locks would soon be blown away by the horrendous winds. Of course, the only thing that wasn't held down by Magni-Locks was Rem and her glass coffin.

Vash rushed along the corridor, seeking out a window to peep out from, hoping for one last glimpse of Rem before she was lost to the universe.

As luck would have it, just as he reached one of the ships gigantic windows, which gave excellent views of the infinite space and Gun Smoke, revolving laziy below, Rem's coffin went hurtling by.

As it did so Vash grabbed one final glimpse of the woman that had raised him, the woman that had meant everything to him. The woman he had loved with all his heart and soul.

She was sill and composed within her resting place, just as she had been before but… but…

Perhaps it was Vash's imagination, perhaps it was a trick of the light, or perhaps it was something even stranger, even grander, but it seemed to him that her soft lips were turned upwards into a serene, beautiful smile.

Still more tears fell from Vash's aqua marine eyes, but they were of a different sort. He felt like he had wings once more, like he was made of nothing so much but light and joy. He grinned through those ecstatic tears, knowing that he'd done the right thing.

'Fly on, my sweet angel,' he whispered euphorically.

And indeed Rem did. She soared into the eternal skies, twisting and turning, becoming smaller and smaller until, at last, she was swallowed up by the distance, returning to the stars that had birthed her.

THE END

Thanks once more to all those that have read and enjoyed Eden's Children and How Far is Eden. I do hope to write a third, but I make no promises. In the mean time try out some of my work or, better still, just keep an eye out for my later stuff. I've got lots of stories just waiting to jump out into the light. And don't forget to check out my journal. Not only does it contain your Reader's Replies, but it also has lots of other funky stuff.

Finally thank you all for being such excellent readers and leaving such wonderful reviews. I shall ever be grateful.

May your paths to Eden be smooth and sweet.


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